Her Wings of Freedom
by Peggy Scribbles
Summary: A child is born in the depths of the Underground City. She's a secret, and somehow she gets tangled in with Levi, Farlan, and Isabel and their quest to gain citizenship on the surface. Levi doesn't know who she is or where she came from, but he's somehow become obsessed. Will she survive the gruesome underground, or will Levi's reputation ruin it for them all?
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was in the grungiest little shack on a dead-end street that the cries of new life could be heard. Even the sewer rats stopped their scuttling to listen to the wails, quickly hushed by a scrap of cloth that soaked the blood and fluids from a warm, tiny body. Once wrapped in a cocoon of blankets, the old woman returned the baby to her mother. She struggled to sit upright and eventually settled for laying on her side with the baby beside her.

"She's beautiful, Maggy," the mother whispered. The baby made suckling noises with soft lips, her skin somewhat sticky and violet.

Maggy hobbled over to a chair in the corner and plopped with a sigh. "She'll be the talk of the district in a few years' time. Don't you know that?"

"No one will know," the mother said, watching with a fading gaze as her daughter's nose twitched. "No one can ever know. He's never been able to produce a boy, you see. If she's found out…" The mother rested her head on her outstretched arm.

Maggy frowned. "How do you expect to keep her a secret? Eh? That lord of yours is sure to notice the absence of your belly!"

The baby began to fuss again, hungry already, and her little eyes scrunched up in an anticipated cry. The mother simply smiled, closing her eyes with a huff. "You know as well as I do, I won't see him again. The bleeding won't stop. My vision has mostly gone already."

"You knew you wouldn't survive this," Maggy pieced together.

"I was told at a young age I wouldn't be able to have children. She was a miracle baby. My miracle baby."

Maggy stood then and took the child in her arms. She was so small and helpless, and Maggy's memories of her own children began to surface again. How long it had been since she had held a child in her arms. "And what do you suppose I do with her? I've long surpassed the ability to produce any milk of my own."

"Pretty Anne, down the way." The mother looked pale and exhausted. Maggy knew she would have to soak the sheets in vinegar for days to get out the stains…she cursed herself. How morbid to be thinking of her sheets when an old friend lay dying atop them.

"Pretty Anne. She's had her baby then?"

The mother nodded. "Challis."

Maggy blinked. "Come again, dear?"

"Her name will be Challis. That's all I wish."

The old woman cracked a smile. "A wonderful name."

The one-room shack fell into silence. Seeing the struggle on the mother's face to even lift one eyelid, Maggy bent with a popping spine to hold the baby close to her face. The mother pressed her cheek against her child's and a single tear slipped from beneath her lashes. There was a final breath, and then the baby began to weep, as if mourning her dead mother.

Maggy brought her back to her chest, rocking her back and forth with practiced ease. "Poor thing," she murmured to the bundle. "I suppose you're my child now, until my own dying breath."

As she turned away, a faint glimmer made Maggy pause. She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but, no, the glimmer was there against the fair skin of the mother's chest, reflecting the light of the candle flame beside the bed. Maggy reached for it and plucked it from around the mother's neck, shuffling closer to the flame for a better look. It appeared to be a ring with a deep emerald stone set into the gold. It hung from a gold chain, simple, yet radiating wealth and power.

"Just who was your father, little one?" Maggy mused. The child made a nasally grunt, squirming in her blankets. Without a second thought, Maggy placed the chain with the gold ring around the child's head. "I hate to say it, but it suits you."

It was only after she had buried the mother's body in the ever-growing graveyard of the district, only after she had scrubbed her only set of sheets in vinegar until her hands were raw, only after she begged Pretty Anne down the way to feed a second baby that wasn't even hers that Maggy said it.

"You're being awfully secretive about this child. I hope you're not thinking of trying to raise orphans again!"

"You don't have to talk during your feedings, Anne."

"At least tell me _something_ about her, Maggy, I'm giving her my milk, for Maria's sake!"

Maggy watched the dark tufts of hair that floated around her tiny head like a halo of feathers as she suckled with wide green eyes. "Her name is Challis. And that's all I know."

...

_**Hello, all. I've been debating putting up this story for some time now, and I'm in the process of editing the original. This is Draft 2. The prologue is short and sweet, but the chapters get longer as we go. If you've read this far, I really appreciate it! If you have any advice or criticism, that is also always appreciated. Classes start next week, but I would like to update every week, maybe by Sunday nights. I only have a few chapters written, but I'm hoping uploading here will spur me to complete this, as I had a lot of fun writing the first draft. Thanks!**_


	2. I

I

FIVE YEARS OLD

It was times like these when Levi wondered if he had made a wrong choice somewhere along the fourteen years of his existence.

"Did I hear you correctly, squirt? You're going to kill me if I don't hand this over?" With a musical jingle, the man held up a silver pocket watch that swung on an identical silver chain. It was clasped between a rather sausage-like thumb and index finger, both of which made Levi wrinkle his nose.

Farlan shifted minutely behind him, a gangly shadow that towered over Levi, and Isabel snorted at his shoulder. "Give him what he wants! You really don't want to mess with him," she grinned. Levi internally rolled his eyes. Isabelle loved watching him beat on grown men, so she was always the one that egged on the target. A terrible habit.

Sausage-Fingers didn't look convinced. "And what would three children like you do with an item like this? You hardly look old enough to tell time."

In one swift movement, Levi had taken hold of the man's wrist and twisted sharply, the angle locking his fat arm into an jarring position and forcing him to drop the watch. Farlan caught it before it could hit the hardwood of the bar. The man opened his mouth to object but was immediately silenced by Isabel's thin butterfly knife that poked his throat.

"Thank you for your patronage," she giggled.

Once outside, the three of them pulled up their hoods and swept swiftly down a dank alley. Levi scrubbed at his fingers forcefully with a clean cloth.

_Disgusting,_ he thought viciously. _Why haven't I found a decent pair of gloves yet?_

"You don't think he'll come after us, do you?" Farlan murmured after a silent ten minutes. Levi had to work his legs double-time to keep up with his lanky ones. "We didn't exactly make it so he couldn't follow this time."

"You worry too much, Farlan," Isabel whistled. She was nearly skipping, her green eyes bright with mischief.

Levi watched her step in something dark and mucky and he shuddered involuntarily. Smelly men, smelly streets, he couldn't _wait_ to get out of this dump. He took a deep, steadying breath once they were out of the alley and continued down a side street with a light flickering on one side. He caught a small form at the bottom of the post; he peeked at it as they passed. Once they rounded a few corners, they tapped up a set of stone stairs with cracks in each one.

Farlan examined their stolen item as Isabel unlocked the door to their cramped home. "How much do you think he'll give us for this?"

Levi kicked at Isabel's ankles and she promptly bent to untie her boots without protest. "I hope it's enough to buy a bar of chocolate," she mused. "I haven't had chocolate in ages!"

"That's because you keep getting us into trouble," Farlan said, his boots already off. He knocked them against the stone wall of the stairway. "If you wouldn't run your mouth so much and buy chocolate at every shop that sells some, we'd have been able to buy our citizenship on the surface already. Isn't that what we're trying to do here?"

"It's not my fault! The guy at the bar was asking for it. Plus, you like chocolate just as much as I do, don't pin that all on me!"

Levi turned away from them, staring out into the street. He had grown used to the feeling of the Underground City, like being trapped in a filthy cage with no way to stretch his wings. The city itself had been built to escape the terrors that lived on the surface, giant beings called Titans that were kept out of humanity's territory only by the fifty-meter high walls surrounding it. It was an effort to live in peace without the looming threat of death on everyone's minds.

Unfortunately, due to the instability of the earth encircling the city, the idea was abandoned, and the city was left for ruin.

It was a place the kingdom above sent the poor and the weak, the trash of the people, and the only way back to the surface was to purchase citizenship. Levi had been born here, in this crime-ridden city, and his mother had died of illness here, leaving him to fend for himself.

There was no sunlight that penetrated the city streets. There was no rain or sky. Levi had seen what it did to people, how they would become weak in the legs and lose their ability to walk. A lot of them died from sickness. The only way to survive was to get out, and the only way to get out was to make money. Levi didn't steal because it was fun. He stole so he could get Farlan, Isabel, and himself out.

Levi pursed his lips, then tapped back down the stone steps and called out to Farlan as he blubbered after him. "I'll be back."

He retraced his path, taking the corners sharply, until he returned to the street with the flickering light. He peered around a brick corner, his hood still raised, and spotted the small form still sitting below the lamppost. It was a child. As he watched, she pushed herself up and wandered across the street, narrowly avoiding being trampled by a passing horse and cart. She clambered up a short set of steps a bit uneasily and pounded a small fist on the wooden door. After a moment, it opened, and the woman who answered it smiled wide, said a few words, and then invited the child inside.

Levi leaned against the cool brick and felt his eyebrows furrow. The child resembled nothing of the woman, not even her hair color. It wasn't uncommon to have woman take in children off the street and care for them. It was part of their maternal nature. So why did he feel like this child was different?

Once he returned home, Isabel pounced. "Where did you go? Did you buy some chocolate? You'll share, won't you?"

"I wanted to make sure that guy wasn't following us." Levi set his clean boots beside the other two pairs at the door, taking his time hanging his cloak.

Isabel looked a little bummed at the fact he didn't purchase chocolate. Farlan rested his book in his lap. "And was he?"

Levi shook his head; Farlan visibly relaxed.

"If I were him, I wouldn't want to come after us. Levi is scary." At Levi's sharp glare, Isabel grinned sheepishly. "It's a good kind of scary! Anyway, I made tea, though these leaves are kind of old." She brought him a cup and he gripped its rim with his fingertips. He took a sip and could tell the leaves were old, the tea flat and bland, but he took another sip anyway. Isabel brightened.

Levi watched her with heavy-lidded eyes as she brought a cup to Farlan as well. For some reason, she reminded him of a puppy. She was as energetic as one and he could pick out that look she got when she grew giddy; if she had a tail, it would be able to fan him on a summer's day. Farlan blew into his cup, took a sip, and promptly jerked back as if the liquid had somehow bit him.

"Did you boil the leaves?" he asked incredulously.

Isabel gave him a look like the answer should be obvious. "Levi likes his tea hot."

"Well, I like my tea drinkable."

Farlan was able to set his cup down before Isabel launched herself at him and Levi stood just as they toppled into his seat. He sipped from under his palm as he watched them. How had he made friends with such annoyances? But as he watched Isabel's scrunched expression as Farlan pushed her face away from him, he couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto his face.

"Oi, are you children ready to take our find to Sid?"

"Get _off_, you lump of chocolate!" Farlan shouted and gave a final shove that sent Isabel toppling to the floor with a grunt. She sat up immediately, eyes wide. Levi saw the imaginary tail thump the ground.

"Chocolate! Levi, can we get some? Please?"

"No."

Levi took the last swig of tea and went into his bedroom, ignoring the moaning from Isabel. He knelt beneath the tiny bed and wrenched free a loose floorboard, rummaging through it to pull out a meter-long, heavy box. When he returned to the front room, Isabel and Farlan were already digging into their own boxes.

This might be Levi's favorite part of this crap job. Setting the box on the table, he lifted the lid and examined the contents with wide, gray eyes. Inside sat a variety of items, all made of metal and leather, wires and screws. First, he pulled out a set of leather straps that he fastened with ease. Twisted around the heel of the foot, crisscrossed over the knees, a belt at the waist, looped over both shoulders and buckled at the chest. He was so small that he had to adjust the straps to their minimum height, but they fit snuggly.

Next came the metal scabbards and gas canisters. They hooked onto the thigh straps with a tube connected to the canister that lay limp on the floor for now. The scabbards were empty; when he had stolen the gear, the Military Police soldier had only one set of swords left, and he had broken them fighting Levi. The scabbards were merely there to hold the gas canisters atop them now.

After the scabbards and canisters came the main housing unit and the subsequent controllers. Inside the main housing unit sat two spools of thick steel cables, and on the outside two fans connected to the unit. The entire contraption sat at the base of his spine. Levi took the canister tubes and attached them to the fans on either side of him, and after attaching the hand controllers to the main unit, flicked a few buttons and pulled the triggers simultaneously. The fans whirred to life, and Levi bit into his cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot. The weight of the gear was nothing compared to the thrill of what was about to come. He faced Isabel and Farlan, the latter adjusting a wire on Isabel's gear with nimble fingers.

Levi forced a serious look. "I don't want to be there for any longer than we have to be. We get in, we get paid, we get out. Understood?"

Farlan smirked. "When do you ever really _want_ to be in Sid's presence for more than a few minutes? He reeks of onions no matter what day."

"One time he smelled like garlic." Both boys eyed Isabel warily and she shrugged. "It was only once. Be glad for that."

Levi rolled his eyes and made for the door. "Shut up and let's go."

Their gear wasn't exactly legal if they weren't a part of the military, so they had to wear their cloaks. If they folded their scabbards up, they tucked neatly between their ribs and their arms, and that was how they stayed until they ducked down a darkened alleyway a few blocks away. Levi's heart was pounding so hard in his throat he was sure it would pop out his mouth, so he swallowed a couple extra times as the three of them fixed their scabbards back into their original positions.

"Did you check your fans?" Farlan muttered to Isabel.

"Aye, before we left. Geez, Farlan, don't you trust me? I've been using this gear just as long as you have."

Levi unhooked his controllers from right beneath his armpits and clicked through the levers and dials. The last thing he wanted was to smack into the cobblestone from the start, so he always made sure he wasn't in reverse. His entire body ached to be airborne, and without another thought he pulled the triggers. Two wires from either hip shot forward and lodged their razor-sharp hooks into either side of the alley's brick walls; there were so many cracked dents in the bricks from previous hooks that if anyone had half a mind to glance upward, they would suspect stolen gear. Levi released the triggers as soon as the hooks set and the wires retracted, flinging him up into the air with a _fsshhh_. It took every muscle in his body straining against the leather straps to get him airborne, but once he was there he could relax for a split second before shooting his wires again, lodging into the rooftops five meters ahead, and then he was moving forward so fast that the people and wagons and buildings below were nothing but a blur. Levi's heart was back in his chest, beating hard as his body worked to pull him forward, faster and faster, harder and harder, until sweat pooled at his spine and his muscles spiked with stinging soreness that was as addictive as the drinks at the bars.

This was the only thing that kept him sane, he believed. The feeling of the stale, musty air tangling his hair in knots and rushing past his cheeks, the steady strain of his muscles alternating with the dropping feeling in his stomach as he dipped, the work his body did that silenced every thought in his head except for where to aim his wires next. This cage of a city couldn't contain him, wouldn't contain him. Someday, he would escape this place and lay beneath a blanket of stars with Isabel and Farlan at his side.

Before he knew it, they had skirted half the city, dropping into another alleyway with nothing but the _fsshhh_ of the wires retracting into their sheaths. Propping up the scabbards again and checking that their hoods were still over their heads, the three of them crossed the street and stopped outside the door of a good-sized building that reeked strongly of onions. Levi frowned.

"Do you guys ever wonder if he eats only onions?" Isabel asked, voicing the boys' thoughts exactly.

It had to be true, Levi thought. Sid wasn't exactly the cleanest man they had ever come across, nor would he be the last in this disgusting city, but he was their boss. At least for the time being. Levi's plans for their future didn't involve being under his smelly reign forever. He gave a firm two knocks before the door opened, revealing a tall, thick man with a mustache that reminded Levi of a rather small worm.

The man spun on his heel. "Levi's here for you, boss."

Ah, another one of Sid's men. He got a new one every week, so Levi had grown used to the random, enormous men that acted nothing more than bodyguards.

A disinterested voice sounded from inside the room. "Send them in."

The three of them passed the man with the worm mustache without wiping their boots. Levi eyed him with a jaded expression. Sid was sitting at the wide table in the kitchen with a stack of parchment and ink before him; honestly, Levi was surprised he wasn't short of breath from moving his arm so much. His body spilled over both sides of his chair and after a hesitant intake of breath, yes, there it was.

Onions.

"What do you have?" He didn't even glance up from his parchments.

With a flick of Levi's hand, Farlan raised the silver pocket watch. It swung from its chain gently and Levi watched as Sid lifted his gaze, his dark eyes widening like a fat dog's did when it was offered a treat.

"I see you found the item," he smiled. Levi couldn't stop the wrinkling of his nose when he caught sight of a blackened tooth.

"Aye, we did." Isabel jerked her chin toward him. "What's it worth to you?"

Farlan hissed at her; Sid stared at them with pursed lips for a fraction of a second before he let out a burst of laughter, clutching his fat stomach with glee that Levi couldn't decide was fake. "I see you've started to grow a bit of a backbone there! And at such a young age, too. Hah…I didn't expect to have to crush it so soon."

Farlan took a step forward and put a long arm between Isabel and Sid. "She didn't mean anything by it, Sid. You know how she is."

"Hey!" Isabel started, but Levi stamped on her foot and she hushed. He had seen the fierce look in her eye and if she said anything more, all three of them were dead.

Farlan bowed nearly in half, "If you would grace us with our coin, we'll be out of your hair for the rest of the day."

Sid still had a smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes and Levi watched him with a blank expression. He could see something brewing on that fat face of his. He didn't like it. His stomach roiled and crashed like it was at war with his other organs and as reassurance, his left hand scratched at his opposite forearm as Sid gestured for the watch. Farlan started toward him.

"No," and Sid pointed to Isabel. "I want her to hand it to me."

Farlan paused. He caught Levi's eye; he was asking a question. Levi hardly tensed the muscles in his neck, only moved enough for Farlan to see, and Farlan handed the watch over to Isabel quietly. Her fingers were trembling slightly as she took it but as Sid beckoned her forward, she went to him with her shoulders back and jaw tight. Sid took the watch and Levi heard Farlan hold his breath.

Levi blinked and the scene changed. Isabel's collar was in Sid's thick paws and lifted to her chin, raising her body up on its toes that scrabbled for purchase on the wood floor. In all his years of working for Sid, never had Levi seen him move so fast, let alone thought he could. Farlan made a strangled sort of noise in the back of his throat but held his ground and Levi couldn't tear his eyes away from them if he tried.

"I don't like children who talk back," Sid hissed, spittle flying at Isabel's face. "You should be on your knees thanking me for this job. I pay for your meals. I pay for the clothes on your backs. All three of you would still be lowly rats on the street begging passerby for coin if it weren't for me. When you speak to me, you show me _gratitude_. Is that understood?"

Isabel nodded and Sid shoved her away with a single meaty arm. She stumbled back, refusing to turn her back as she wedged herself between Farlan and Levi. Immediately, the boys shuffled a half step forward, shielding her with their bodies.

Sid eyed the watch for a moment before tossing it on the table with a clank. "Levi," he called, returning to his parchments as if nothing had transpired between them. "Put that away before you hurt yourself."

Levi glanced down and realized he had unconsciously pulled the knife at his forearm. He had prepared himself to…what? Attack Sid? He knew he was fully capable of killing the man, and his wormy friend for that matter, but where would that land him? He was right, Sid paid for everything. He was their sole source of income and it hadn't occurred to Levi until that exact moment. He slid the knife back into its sheath and felt his lips pull into a grimace.

"You're still here?" Sid grunted after a few quiet moments.

Farlan stuttered. "Our—our payment, sir."

Sid grumbled to himself, shuffled some papers, then picked up a small pouch. He tipped the contents onto the table and sorted through the coins as Levi, Farlan, and Isabel watched helplessly at the door. When he was finished, he threw the pouch across the room and it landed at Levi's feet, the contents jangling together musically. Levi scooped it up, silent.

"Thank you, sir," Farlan bowed, Isabel following his lead. Levi simply dipped his head. It hardly counted as a bow, but Sid said nothing as they left the house. Back across the street in the dripping alley, Levi took his controllers in hand and launched himself upward, landing on the roof of a nearby inn. Farlan and Isabel were at his side.

"You could have died," Levi said immediately, words stinging.

"I know." Isabel's voice was nearly drowned out by their footsteps clanking on the metal roofing. "I didn't think."

"Start thinking, then. You saw how much he cut our pay. This is hardly enough for two days' meals." Levi flung the measly coin pouch at her. She fumbled with it but caught it, her face falling as she felt its weight.

"I'm sorry, Levi."

Farlan squeezed her shoulder before they continued on. "I'm just glad it didn't get ugly. You know Sid's one of the only high-paying brutes in this city. Without him…"

"I know," Levi huffed. He glanced across the street as habit and hesitated. That child was there again, a half a city away from where she had been earlier in the day. How was that possible? She couldn't be more than five. She was at the door of a skinny woman who was offering her a bowl of something pale and creamy. The child smiled, her entire face lighting up.

"Levi?"

Levi started. He hadn't realized he had stopped moving. Isabel was a few meters in front of him and Farlan was even farther than her.

"Are you alright?" she asked curiously.

Levi cleared his throat. "Go home. I'll be right behind you."

"But—"

"Go." Levi didn't give them any room to argue, so they had no choice but to continue on.

Once they had flung themselves from the rooftops and had become tiny specks in the ever-glowing lights of the city, Levi dropped into the nearest darkened street, landing catlike on his feet. He didn't truly know what drew him to the child, but he couldn't stop himself from sidling along the wall and scanning the main street for her, his hood drawn to shadow his face.

There, sitting beside the woman outside of her home, the bowl of soup in her tiny palms. Levi had dropped nearly on top of them and he could hear the soft murmuring of the woman.

"Where did you go today, honey?"

There was a slurp and satisfied sigh, and then the child peered up at the woman with round, green eyes. "I said hello to Mrs. Schmidt. She let me use her toilet and then brushed my hair."

That must have been earlier, when Levi had seen her enter that woman's home. Did everyone in the city know this child, then? That didn't explain how she had gotten this far across the city by herself.

"Where does Mrs. Schmidt live?"

"District Four. Isn't that cool? I started in District Four and now I'm in District Eight! That's four, two times." The child slurped some more, chewing the chunks of whatever was in it with a big smile.

The woman looked astounded. "D-District Four, you say. My word, that's a mighty long way from here."

"I know," the child said matter-of-factly. "Mr. Guy and Clyde brought me here. They go everywhere in the city. I like Clyde. He's so big, and he eats carrots with me when Mr. Guy lets me have some! Hey, do you have more soup? I just want a teeny bit more."

The child held up the empty bowl with wide eyes, licking her lips clean of the soup, though some was still dribbling down her chin. The woman took the bowl with a shocked laugh. "I have no more to spare today, but I do have a bit of fresh bread. Would you like that instead, honey?"

"Yeah!"

Levi watched as the woman disappeared inside the house, the child waiting patiently on the doorstep. This must be what she does, he thought. She was smart enough to make herself known to the women of the city, and with her politeness, how could any mother say no? Levi had seen other children her age sitting in the muck of the streets with sunken eyes and cheeks, tattered clothes and bare feet. They were skeletons of people, like he had been once, and no one paid them half a mind when they passed. They had their own problems to worry about.

But this child.

It was as if she refused to let the city beat her down. She wandered the streets with a smile and made friends like everyone in this place wasn't out to stab everyone else in the back. She took food when it was offered and probably clothing too, since her shirt and pants weren't nearly as dirty as they could be. She even had worn shoes on her feet.

_What's your story, brat?_ Levi thought interestedly, unable to stop himself.

The woman eventually returned with the butt end of a loaf of bread. "Here you are, honey. Now you be careful, alright?"

"Okay! Thanks, Mrs. Mia."

Levi studied her with furrowed brows. Her eyes were so bright and thoughtful, her lashes long and soft. Her hair did look as if someone had given it a thorough brushing, the brown curling strands reminding Levi of the chocolate Isabel preferred. She had a heart-shaped face and dimples when she smiled, and suddenly Levi realized she was toddling right for him, munching on her bread with tiny white teeth.

He tried to pull himself out of sight, but he had moved too late. He stood in the shadows of the darkened street as still as death…and then a little face popped around the corner of the building, eyes focused on seeing through the darkness, the piece of bread still clenched between her jaw. Then she saw him, her eyes traveling up his cloaked body and stopping at his hooded head, and Levi prayed to whatever deity was out there that she couldn't see his face. She narrowed her eyes, removed the bread from her mouth, and promptly spun on her heel to head the other way. Her hair swung outward as she turned from him, landing softly against her shoulders as she passed the woman's door and continued on.

Levi let go of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and watched her retreating back.

No wonder she had lasted this long. The danger that appeared to be a cloaked stranger in a dark alley made her turn tail and go in the opposite direction. Any child he knew that age would have asked if he wanted to share, or maybe who he was and what he wanted. She didn't even bother.

As she wandered across the street and disappeared down another, he couldn't tear his mind from her. How did she get here? Where did she come from? He wanted to know more about her, anything that she was willing to tell him. But the only people he had ever seen her interact with were women. Perhaps that was part of her plan as well…stay away from the men and befriend the women.

Levi thought about her all the way back home, the steady rhythm of the wires launching him forward and retracting again unable to silence his mind for the first time in his life.

...

_**Hi, all! Chapter 1 is now available. For this story, I've made it so Isabel was a part of the crew from the beginning. I know it doesn't follow the manga, but I also have a few OCs that aren't in the manga either (obviously!). If there's anything that doesn't make sense, please let me know! Later, I want to have the story line up with the events of young Levi's life. Anyway, I know I can get a bit wordy in my chapters, so if it's too much to chew through, reviews and critiques are always welcome. Thank you!**_


	3. II

II

FIVE YEARS OLD

"Again? This is the fourth time this week. You won't tell us where you're going, you always take your gear." Farlan glanced up from counting their coins from this past month, lowering his voice after a glance to one of the bedrooms. "Isabel is worried about you."

Levi tugged his cloak over his gear and refused to meet his eye. "She's wasting energy."

"She has a right to be worried. What could keep you busy like this that doesn't involve the two of us?"

Levi bit his cheek. He could feel Farlan's eyes heavy on his back and it made him heat with guilt. Isabel typically questioned his disappearances, mostly because she had a separation issue with him that he found a little odd, but he had gotten fairly efficient at distracting her. Farlan was harder to deceive. He made him feel guilty and filthy for keeping secrets, two things he despised more than anything. Levi had wanted to explain why he was always out since he started over a month ago, but the words always died on his tongue. He couldn't even tell them why because he didn't know himself.

"Trust me for now," Levi said, and didn't wait for Farlan's response.

The guilt was left behind as soon as Levi took to the air. He only had to deal with those uncomfortable things when he was back home. Right now, he was headed to District Two because that was where he had last seen her two days ago. She was always on the move, he had found out, and there had been a few days where it had been difficult to track her down, but he always managed.

Because he was using his gear so often, he had to make sure he also tracked the gas canister carts that typically roamed District One, the only district that contained the single staircase leading to the surface. Most of the Military Police soldiers tasked with guarding the staircase required the canisters, so there were always some lying around. Levi had made it a sort of game when it came to stealing them, though he had gotten competent enough in the past month that it wasn't much of a thrill anymore.

There was a looming, rectangular building with a bell tower ahead, and Levi let his wires retract fully so he slowed in the air. At the last moment, he shot a single wire to the bell tower, the momentum of his body causing him to shoot past it, but the hook held and he dropped between the rectangular building and a squat pub without a sound.

After he had tucked his scabbards away, Levi pulled out a sort of mask he had fashioned that hooked around his ears and left nothing but his eyes visible. The child had never seen through the shadows of his hood before, but he didn't want to take the chance. For some reason, he didn't want her to know who he was. If she didn't know, she couldn't track him down.

_Stupid,_ Levi thought as he yanked his hood up and stepped into the cobblestone street. _She's a child. How would a child know how to track someone?_

Still, he didn't remove the mask.

District Two was almost as rowdy as One, seeing as it was the closest to the stairway. Levi had to dodge multiple carts with equipment and supplies, as well as their horses, and avoid nearly everyone in the street while searching for the child. He wasn't worried about the number of people; he had taken on jobs much tougher in District One and hadn't been caught. He was more concerned about the child. This was certainly no place for one, especially one as friendly and wide-eyed as her. His eyes never stopped scanning the knees of the crowd as he marched down street after street.

Eventually, the crowds thinned a bit, and Levi didn't have to dodge so many carts and barrels and begging people. He must have entered District Three without even realizing it. He rounded a corner with a sickly woman propped against it, wheezing into her lap, and froze.

The child stood before him with a glass of clear water between her palms, a newly acquired too-large jacket draped over her skinny frame. She stared up at him with a curious frown, one that told Levi he had interrupted her and her task.

"You're in my way," she said.

Levi swept aside like she had threatened him with a knife.

The child responded with, "Thank you," and toddled to the wheezing woman with purpose, holding out the glass.

"Here, this is for you," she said to the woman.

The woman opened her sunken eyes and rested her gaze on the child, who stood patiently. With a small smile, the woman took the glass and downed the entire thing in one gulp.

"Do you want some more?" the child asked. "Mrs. Vi says I can have as many as I want."

"No." The woman sounded as if her throat had been shredded and hadn't healed properly. "One is enough."

"Okay. I have one silver coin. It can buy a tiny bread loaf. Do you want it?"

The woman's smile was back, but she shook her head. "That tiny bread loaf will fill a tiny stomach. Eat."

The child frowned but accepted and turned back the way she came. Levi watched the interaction with fascination, unable to move as the child passed him with the glass. When she was a few meters away, she turned back to him.

"Are you coming?" she asked.

Levi felt his lips part in a silent breath. He took one step forward, then another, waiting for her to throw the glass at him, or maybe run away. But she didn't; she simply waited until he was at her side before continuing on her way.

"Wait here," she said after a few more meters, and left him at the opening of an alleyway as she knocked on a random door. Levi ducked out of sight just as it opened.

"Ah, back for more?" a sweet voice chimed.

"No, I'm good. Thanks, Mrs. Vi."

"You be careful now!"

Levi felt his stomach twist sharply. This was not what he had planned. Interaction with the child was forbidden, at least in his mind's eye. He had made a set of rules when he had decided to track her through the city, and he had broken the most important one just now. Though he hadn't said anything, she had seen him and spoken to him. What was he going to do?

"Hey," and Levi whipped his head around. The child stood at the alleyway's opening, looking very small in her bland jacket. Her eyes blinked once as she watched him. "You were late today."

Levi felt his brows furrow, because _what?_

"You usually show up at seven, but it's eight and a half. At least," and she narrowed her eyes and stared hard at her shoes. "I think it's eight and a half."

She's been keeping track of the time? And not only that, the time he typically shows up to see her. Levi always spent the evenings drinking tea and reading the latest newspaper they had stolen from Sid's place. It was a time when Isabel was always her rowdiest and Farlan his most irritated because he wanted nothing more than to read in peace. He had chosen the evenings because the stress of the day always settled in his head at that time, and what better way to clear it than to cross the city by maneuver gear and check up on a tiny, enthralling child?

He was at a loss for words, but she continued without a reply. "Do you follow me at nighttime because you're afraid I might get hurt? Because there's one woman in every district I go to that will let me sleep in her house. So, you don't have to worry."

The more she spoke, the more Levi wanted to listen. She had coerced ten women to let her stay whenever she showed up at their doorstep. This was unbelievable. How had a child her age accomplished so much?

Levi stayed silent, watching in wonderment. The child's frown was back, but he could tell she was thinking hard. Then,

"Are you my guardian angel?"

Levi nearly choked. An angel, definitely not. If she knew some of the jobs Sid had given him over the years, she would pound down Vi's door and never come out. And a guardian…he would like to think he protected Isabel and Farlan, but they all protected each other equally. That wasn't guardianship, that was partnership.

Slowly, carefully, Levi moved his head side to side.

"Good," she said firmly. Her eyes shown a bright green, reminding Levi of Isabel's a bit, though hers were dull compared to these. "If you had said yes, I knew you would've been lying. Guardian angels don't exist in this life. Everyone is on their own."

Levi stood dumbfounded in the middle of the alleyway. He had so many questions and wanted so many answers that his mind had gone blank and the only thing he could do was stare at this little girl with an open mouth. Children weren't supposed to know these things. They were supposed to be dirty and smelly, put everything they touch in their mouth, and cry at unreasonable things. They were supposed to get sick often and make adults' lives more of a pain than it already was.

They weren't supposed to be like this.

"If you're not my guardian angel, then I don't know what you are, but you seem nice. You haven't tried to hurt me yet." The child stuck out a hand. "My name's Challis. Do you want to be my friend?"

When he didn't do anything simply because his brain couldn't comprehend her, her little fingers wiggled. "Come on. Mrs. Page is expecting me at nine. If I'm late, she'll worry, and I hate making her worry."

Levi moved cautiously with no real reason to do it. He supposed he did it for himself, to spread the time out, to slow things down. When he reached her, he took her hand in his, his fingers completely covering the entirety of her hand, which was ice cold.

It was as if she could sense it. "My hands are always cold. And you haven't answered me."

Levi appeared to mull it over, but he had his answer the moment she had asked. "Yes," he said lowly. "I will be your friend."

She beamed, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. "Great! Next time don't be late. I'm going to District Six tomorrow. I want to see Old Mr. John and his doggy Chet. Bye!"

And off she went.

...

It was very late. Or it could be very early. Either way, Sid was still at his kitchen table, parchment strewn every which way and ink covering the side of his hand from all his calculations. It wasn't easy being the greatest criminal in the city, but someone had to do it. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his oversized belly thoughtfully. Numbers were flying about his head like insects.

A large fist pounded the door, waking Ed from his bout of raucous snoring in a nearby chair.

"Whazzat?" he fumbled, eyes half-open as he glanced to the door.

"Some guard you are," Sid scoffed. "Glad to know I'm in the capable hands of a bum. _Get up, you lazy shit._"

Ed jumped to attention, saluting Sid so adamantly that he smacked himself in the face. Sid rolled his eyes. "I'll get it, I'll get it," Ed called, pulling the door open a crack to peer into the street. After a moment of murmuring, he turned back to Sid. "Some guy from the surface wants to see you, boss."

All the way to District Three? He didn't get many visitors from the surface, especially at this hour. There could only be a single reason for this—coin. And a lot of it. "Well don't leave our esteemed guest in the filthy street; bring him in."

Ed swung open the door. In stepped a man much like Sid himself, round and bulbous, with dark curling hair and a beard that fluffed about his cheeks. Every pudgy finger was adorned in gold and an assortment of jewels. There was one of every color! And more gold jewelry hung from around his throat, jangling as he shuffled forward and stopped at the table. Sid's mouth began to water as the candlelight danced along the precious metals.

"What can I do for you, sir? I assume you sought me out for a reason, and I'm here to help."

"Quit the sunshine and daisies, Sid. I hear you can get away with murder."

Sid sat back with a sneer. "You do understand we live beneath your laws above? Murder is a daily occurrence down here, though it costs money to fuel the knife."

The man hadn't been smiling when he arrived, but his scowl deepened at Sid's words. "I'm no fool. I understand what runs this foul city. I know your services are not cheap and I'm prepared to pay top coin for my request."

Now here was a man who knew how to speak his language. There wasn't any prompting necessary and Sid could feel his pockets grow heavy already. "Then spit it out."

"I have four daughters and a rather large estate inside Sina, very near to the King's property. With no sons of my own, the estate will be taken from me once I'm gone. My family name will die with me, and I cannot allow that, you see." The man stroked his beard, eyeing Sid with vibrant green eyes. Finally, he spoke in a low voice, as if even Ed wasn't permitted to hear his words. "A few days ago, I found out a previous mistress of mine is dead. Been dead nearly five years. She told me she was infertile."

Sid raised an eyebrow. "You need a son, so why sleep with an infertile woman?"

The man sighed contentedly. "Ah, she was beautiful. More beautiful than the sky or the lush grass or the most delicate flower. Why not? I thought it wouldn't hurt me any. She could make no children, yet she couldn't keep herself from me."

"Does this story have a point, other than to stir my jealousy?"

"She _said_ she could make no children, but I know the signs when I see them. She would get sick every morning. She would only want certain foods. She would cry for no reason or scream just the same. And then, she disappeared. She knew I required a son, and I knew she loved me. She left me because she was carrying a daughter," he said viciously.

"Let me ask you this," Sid said, resting his arms atop his belly. "The daughters your mistresses have…"

"I have four daughters. Why would I want any more?"

Sid nodded, knowing the answer before he gave it. He was here talking to him, after all. "You want me to track this girl down then. How am I supposed to know where—"

"Lara knew I always hated this place, this stinking underground hole where the sick and poor come to die. If the girl could be anywhere, it's here." The man didn't wait for Sid's reply. He slammed his palms on the table, toppling an ink jar that dripped seeping black liquid onto the floor, and breathed sweet breath into Sid's face. "You find her, you kill her, and I'll give you three-thousand pieces of gold. Understand?"

Sid did well in hiding his expressions from buyers, but this was asking a little much. Three thousand gold pieces could feed him for half a year, maybe more, and could buy him a good woman almost every week within that time. With that amount of money, he wouldn't have to crunch numbers for a very long time. There wasn't a doubt in his mind he wanted this. But to find a girl who could be anywhere in the city, and without a sketch as to even hint at what he was looking for was a stretch. Where did he even begin?

"What did this Lara woman look like? Anything you can remember?"

The man looked a bit relieved in Sid's interest. "She was thin and long, with thick brown hair. Brown eyes, like mud, but they could melt you with one look."

Sid clicked his tongue. That would have to do. She would look like a combination of that poor description and the fat man that stood before him, so he jotted down a couple of notes on the corner of one of his calculation parchments and stood with a grunt.

"Seems we're in business. Ed, the door."

The man blinked. "You don't even know my name. How will I know when it's done?"

Sid grinned, exposing his rotted teeth with glee. "We'll be in touch."

...

The next week went by in a blur. Levi had been very precise in his timing to ensure Challis didn't call him out on his tardiness again and spending most evenings with her had put him in a good mood. He had come home the first night in such elation he almost told Farlan everything.

The two of them had noticed he wasn't his usual stoic self, too, and had taken advantage of it. Isabel had gotten her chocolate and Farlan had found a new book, both of which cost them two weeks' worth of pay combined.

Levi didn't care.

Challis had shown him around a new district each day. She explained which streets she avoided and which women gave her soup and which gave her potatoes. She had even introduced him to Whiskers, a stray cat in District Four she befriended in passing. He had crouched beside her as she pet Whiskers and said he would sometimes bring her mice, but she never ate them because they were bad for her. She would always thank the cat just the same.

She had asked him many questions, as children do. She wanted to know where he lived, what he ate, why his boots were so clean, why he always wore a hood. She never asked for his name, though. If she wanted his attention, she simply called out, "Hey!" and Levi would go to her. He followed her until nine each night and then he would go home and impatiently wait for tomorrow.

"Have you checked your gas lately, Levi?" Isabel asked, watching him as he tied his cloak over his shoulders neatly.

"I'm fine for now."

"What about your hooks? Do they need to be sharpened?"

"I sharpen them every other night."

"Do you have your knives?"

Levi flung his arms out in exasperation. "I do this every night, Isabel."

Isabel chewed her lip. "I just want to make sure you're prepared. I don't know where you're going."

Levi sighed. "It's nothing dangerous." Then quieter, "I'm not ready to tell yet."

He could see her face fall, her shoulders slump a bit, but there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't ready and she would have to be patient. "Okay."

He made for the door. Halfway there, he was attacked from behind. Isabel.

"Be safe, Levi," she mumbled into his cloak, her arms squeezing the breath from his lungs.

He felt a bubble of affection swell in his chest and patted her clasped hands. "Of course."

Levi grunted as he pulled himself into the sky, directing himself toward District Nine. He was sore from all the flying, his body not used to using the gear every day without rest, but he knew he was getting stronger and more proficient in the air. He could take sharper turns and maneuver himself more gracefully than before. He was making himself better without even realizing it.

It took half an hour to get to District Nine and another forty-five minutes of searching before he found her. He had begun to panic when she wasn't waiting near a lamppost like she usually did, and when he did stumble upon her, his organs twisted and flipped nauseatingly.

She stood at the rear of a dead-end street, the houses boarded up and the buildings around them offering no place to hide. She was so small, Levi realized then, and the four men that loomed around her made her seem even smaller by comparison. Levi perched on one of the surrounding buildings' rooftops, peering down like a hawk on the scene. He felt more like a mouse in that moment than anything. He gripped the edge of the rusty metal shingles tightly to stop the trembling in his arms. He could hear the men speak to her in soothing tones, but he knew better; they didn't want to scare her away when she was so close. Levi needed to get her out of there, but…

One of the men took a lumbering step toward her, a leer cutting his face in half, and then Levi was flinging himself headfirst over the edge, twisting to land hard on his feet with bent knees. He stood, a hand on Challis's chest to keep her behind him. She swayed into his hand and promptly gripped his wrist.

"Late again," she said breathily, and Levi glanced down to see her face pink and sweaty. "I was just napping when they showed up."

The leering man raised his hands, and Levi recognized him as the infamous Mad Dog, surrounded by his cronies. "Hey, we weren' doin' nothin' wrong. We just came to see if she was alright. She looks kinda feverish, don' you think?"

Levi didn't want to take his eyes off the thugs, but his concern for Challis was too great. She did appear feverish. She hadn't looked this way yesterday; it must have come on powerfully overnight. She was nearly unconscious on her feet, but she had enough energy to stare down the men before her with all the anger a child her age could muster.

"I don't need your help. I'm—I'm fine."

She certainly wasn't fine.

"C'mon kid, don' start somethin' you can' finish." Mad Dog was speaking to Levi now, his cronies snickering. All four of them took another step forward and forced Levi to press Challis back a step. He didn't want it to go this way, but they were leaving him no choice.

"I could say the same to you," Levi growled, eliciting a snort from Mad Dog. His balding head shone in the streetlights and Levi vaguely wondered if he would be able to see his own face in the shiny skin. "Another step, and you'll regret it."

"So we take a few extra minutes to dispose of you, big deal. You're doin' nothin' but wastin' our time."

As he spoke, Levi felt himself fall into that familiar place he went when things turned ugly. It was a place with no emotion, no pain. Words meant nothing and neither did his actions.

When Levi's mother had died, Levi was only as old as Challis was now, and he didn't know a thing about surviving. He figured he would die without his mother, which he accepted. She had been the only pure soul in this entire shithole of a city, the only sliver of light at the end of a dark tunnel. When she died, the sliver of light died too. It wasn't until an acquaintance of his mother took him in and taught him what it meant to survive that Levi understood.

The strong would always devour the weak, until the weak stood and fought back.

Mad Dog was grinning at him with dark eyes as he flicked a hand to one of his gang members. The blond stepped forward, his body lumbering yet thin, and Levi felt Challis's hand slip from his wrist.

Levi let him get within a foot of them before he moved.

In one fluid motion, Levi swiped his left hand in a wide arc, his fist clenched tightly. The blond gargled, scratching at the knife sticking out the side of his throat, then coughed a bubble of blood and collapsed. Mad Dog and the other two staggered back with gapping mouths.

"I said, another step, and you'll regret it," Levi repeated lowly.

"Alright, kid, you're startin' to piss me off," Mad Dog snarled, and all three men jumped at him. Time seemed to slow.

Two of the men collapsed on him from either side. One had a knife. The other reached for his throat. It was simple enough to dodge the knife; he ducked as the swipe came, grabbed the wrist, and twisted hard enough that the knife dropped to the ground with a shriek. The other that came for his throat abandoned the idea and lunged for the knife. With the first's wrist still locked in place, Levi kicked the second in the side of the head, sending him sprawling onto the ground with a groan. Deftly, Levi flipped the knife into the air with the toe of his boot, catching it in his right hand and slashing it solidly through the first's throat. He threw the knife with stunning accuracy into the ribs of the second man, who gasped and scrambled to dislodge it unsuccessfully, when suddenly a beefy arm wrapped itself around his neck and squeezed.

"You're feisty, I'll give you that," Mad Dog spit into his ear. "But even you have your limits."

Levi took a single gasp of air, the only one he needed, and stamped on Mad Dog's toes with his heel. With the distraction, he ripped his second knife from its sheath and swung his arm behind him, stabbing at the first thing it met. Unfortunately for Mad Dog, it happened to be his groin.

He howled in pain, letting Levi go to clutch at what was left between his legs, blood darkening the tattered remains of his pants. Levi didn't hesitate; he slammed the knife up to the hilt into Mad Dog's chest. As Mad Dog fell, Levi caught sight of his hooded figure in the bald spot on his head, nothing but a dark shadow in the smooth skin.

The street fell into silence until a voice whispered, "We were both wrong, then." Levi turned to see Challis swaying on her feet, eyes and words heavy with sickness. "You're my guardian after all."

Levi dove over the bodies to catch her as she collapsed, unconscious.

"Challis?" he murmured, but he knew it was in vain. She had fainted from the fever, which, by the heat that seared Levi's wrist once he placed it against her forehead, was climbing. What was he going to do? He didn't know anyone outside Farlan, Isabel, and Sid, and none of them knew anything about medicine. He was lucky to have stayed healthy for this long. She, on the other hand, was much more susceptible to sickness.

A gasp sounded from behind him and something hit the ground. Levi twisted awkwardly to see who it was, picking up his knife in a bloodied hand for defense. "Come no farther," he barked.

It was an older gentleman, streaks of silver hair shining in the streetlight, a bag of poorly grown vegetables scattered at his feet. His face was saggy yet taut, wrinkled and undernourished. The round spectacles on his nose sat askew as if his ears were uneven, or perhaps his nose had been broken in earlier years. The gentleman looked upon the scene with wide eyes. He took in the four bleeding bodies and unconscious child before stopping on Levi. He swallowed twice before speaking.

"Is she…?"

Levi held Challis tighter to his chest, unsure of what this old geezer wanted. "No. She's fainted."

The gentleman's worried expression eased. "A fever?"

"Yes."

"Is she yours?"

The gentleman said it as if she were an item, and Levi opened his mouth to berate him until he realized he was asking if she was a relative of his. Or perhaps his own child. In response, Levi drew back his hood to reveal his stark black hair, his angular cheekbones, his narrowed gray eyes. He still had his mask over the lower half of his face, but it was enough to show the gentleman that she did not belong to him by blood.

The gentleman nodded. "I see. Well," and he stooped to gather the bruised vegetables back into his bag before pointing ahead. "That house there, the one with the boarded-up windows and red door, is mine. If you bring her in, I can see what ails her."

Levi stared at him as he made a wide arc around the cooling bodies. He was halfway to the house before he turned back with a sharp jab of his scruffy chin toward the house.

"Come on, kid. The quicker we get her inside, the quicker I can get her healthy again."

Levi didn't know what else to do. He propped Challis against his ribs with one arm as he stood, her head lolling, and retreated to yank his other knife from the blond's throat with a wet sliding sound. He followed the gentleman inside, the knives leaving a trail of crimson behind them.

...

_**Hey all! I figured I'd upload a little earlier today because I'm on holiday for the weekend. I would really like to upload more than once a week, but my semester is so jam-packed I'm afraid I'll fall behind. So I'll just be keeping the longer chapters for you! As always, critiques and reviews are welcome! I've been having a bit of trouble with how I wanted the city to be laid out, but I think I've fixed it. Thanks for your support!**_


	4. III

III

FIVE YEARS OLD

"Set her on the sofa, then bring your knives here."

Levi carefully wiped his boots at the door, noticing how pristine everything was in this boarded-up two-room home. Not a speck of dust to be seen, not a stray dish out of place. Even the sofa appeared clean, although he knew it was probably older than he was. He lay Challis carefully onto the cushions, arranging her limbs so she wouldn't be uncomfortable, and put a hand under the knives as he went to the kitchen sink.

"I apologize for intruding," Levi felt himself say, turning on the water to rinse the blades. The water was a rusty orange, but that was the best they could do down here.

"What's a kid like you doing with a child like this?" the gentleman asked at his side, watching Levi clean the blades with care. Levi had a habit of making sure no speck was left behind and that went double for his weapons. The diseases that could be transmitted through blood were exceedingly frightening. "I wondered if you were simply defending a young girl against a gang of thugs, but that happens every day, in every part of the city."

Levi clenched his jaw tightly. Once the blades were dry, he returned them to their sheaths at his forearms. It was when the gentleman began to wet a cloth with cool water that Levi answered him. "I found her over a month ago. Maybe more. She's not like the other children."

The gentleman went to Challis's side and checked her temperature before draping the cloth over her forehead. "She's got a mighty fever."

"She wasn't like that yesterday."

"Ah, yes, fevers can come on rapidly. It's nothing a little anti-inflammatory medication can't fix. It'll just have to run its course for now." The gentleman went to a glass-pane cabinet and pulled a jar no bigger than Levi's thumb from the shelf. Inside were white pills, which he shook into his palm with a dull clinking sound. "Would you be so kind as to get a glass of water?"

Levi frowned at his word choice. He had just killed four men who were still lying in the street outside. But he flipped open multiple cabinets before finding the glasses and filled one halfway.

"Thank you," the gentleman said, and pushed the pill past Challis's slack lips, dribbling a gulp of water down after it. He massaged her throat with gentle fingers and Levi caught the bob; she had swallowed it.

"There. She should be alright for a few hours."

Levi sat at Challis's feet as the gentleman returned the glass to the sink. He made no inclination to ask anything else, to question why Levi had to kill those men or why a fourteen-year-old boy had the abilities to do that. It only made Levi more on edge.

"They were going to hurt her," he said to the sofa table.

"I know," came the reply.

"If I didn't do something, she would have died."

"I know," the gentleman repeated.

Levi chewed his lip, anxious yet relieved. She was going to be okay. He turned to the gentleman and startled, because he was staring right at him, leaned up against the sink with crossed arms. In the light of the house, Levi could see most of his light hair was streaked silver, like maybe his natural color had been silver and it was just beginning to streak a waxy yellow.

"What do you plan to do with her, once she's back to health?" the gentleman asked.

Levi blinked.

"If you're to raise her simply to sell her to the same thugs you just killed out there, well, I'm afraid she's not leaving this house."

Levi recoiled. _Raise_ her; like she was some sort of livestock waiting to be butchered. The mere thought of it forced the blood from his face and sweat droplets formed at his temples. He reached for Challis's hand, squeezing it between his fingers to ground himself.

The gentleman tipped his head back, his expression easing. "Good," he said. "I wanted to make that clear."

Levi gave him a sour look, swiping his sleeve over his face. "You're a doctor, then. And a sadist."

The gentleman chuckled. "Just a doctor. The only one in the district. I get a lot of sickly patients, and a few knife wounds, but never have I had a kid kill four men on my street and bring in a fever-ridden girl unscathed. That's new."

"There's a first of everything," Levi grunted, and he laughed again.

"I suppose so! The name's Finn."

"Levi."

He could see Finn's eyebrow jump, but he said, "Why the mask? And the hood."

"I…" Levi felt silly all of a sudden. He yanked the mask off, folding it again and again in his hands. "I was afraid if she saw my face, she'd follow me."

Finn's gaze was heavy but gentle. "And you don't want that."

"Earlier…outside. That was the first time she ever saw me like that. Be who I am. I was…" Levi sighed, unable to finish.

Finn made a noise; he understood. "You're afraid she won't want to be around you if she sees the real you."

Levi faced Challis's unconscious form, studying her hands, her throat, her chest that rose and fell rhythmically. There was a little bump beneath her shirt, out of place where her skin should be smooth, and Levi pressed it with a finger. It was hard as stone. He leaned forward and spotted a thin gold chain slipping past her collar and tugged at it until the hard thing fell onto the sofa cushions, bounced once, and swung from its chain over the edge. Levi picked it up.

It was a gold ring. A large gold ring looped through with a matching chain. Levi could almost fit both his pinkies through the hole it was so wide. An emerald cut into the shape of a circle was embedded into it, catching the light so it was illuminated from within.

Where did she come across _this?_ Something of this value was never found down here, and if it was, it certainly wasn't kept by a child. This was worth more than Levi had seen in his lifetime, more than Sid ever hoped to get his fat hands on. This was more than enough to buy Levi's, Farlan's, and Isabel's citizenship on the surface. It could buy them a small piece of property too, and food to last them for weeks.

Finn must have sensed Levi's thoughts. "That's hers."

Levi turned to him, dreamlike. "Right," he said, dropping it. The ring's hold on his mind lessened, and he stood. "When she wakes up, find out where she found it."

"And where are you going?"

Levi was already at the door, controllers in hand. "It's late and I have people waiting for me. I'll be back for her."

He yanked his hood up and was halfway out the door before Finn called, "Wait!" He turned back.

"This changes nothing," Finn said, filling the doorway. "If you plan to sell her or her ring, you won't be finding her when you return."

Levi stared hard at Finn, feeling more confident now that his face was hidden in shadow. He could see Finn wasn't toying with him. If he had the slightest doubt Levi didn't mean what he said, Levi was certain he would never see Challis again. He faced Finn head-on.

"How could I live with myself knowing I sold her to gain my freedom? I may kill men three times my size, but I don't manipulate the helpless for my own devices. That's not in my job description."

Finn stood firm. "I would hope not. The infamous Levi would know better than that."

...

Finn's words had bothered Levi all the way home. The way he had said _infamous_, as if Levi had known about his reputation, had known that he had a reputation at all. That explained his surprise when he had told him his name. Levi had thought maybe Finn always made that stupid face when he was given new information. It turned out Levi hadn't been as secretive as he would have liked, which meant Farlan and Isabel were in danger as well.

Although the trip home was short, Levi felt as if time had stretched itself out to force him into his thoughts. Not only did he have Farlan and Isabel to worry about, but Challis had now found herself on his list of people to protect. He hadn't realized it until he saw her lying unconscious on Finn's sofa, the way his chest felt twisted and prickly, how he was exhausted and wound too tight at the same time. He couldn't explain why he felt this way, only that he did, and he didn't mind if it persisted just a while longer.

"Levi!"

He was met with a debilitating hug that brought to light the soreness he had felt earlier in the night. Isabel pulled back with a grin, her face cast in odd shadow from the light of the doorway at her back, but it quickly fell upside-down.

"Is—is that _your_ blood?"

Levi made a quick pass of his hand over his face. It came back smeared red, and at the same moment he kicked himself for not having washed at Finn's, he remembered he had also forgotten his mask.

"Shit," he hissed, startling Isabel even more.

"Farlan," she called, her eyes never leaving Levi's face as she dragged him through the doorway. "Farlan, get up!"

"There's no need to wake Farlan," Levi grunted.

Farlan appeared from the bedroom, looking completely awake and not as if he had been resting at all, which he probably hadn't. He took in Levi's appearance in the dim oil-lamp light and frowned. "You were in a fight."

"A fight?" Isabel squealed, eyes widening even farther, if that was possible.

Levi was getting exasperated. Quickly. He yanked off his cloak, which was damp at the bottom from when he crouched with Challis, and shook off Isabel. Twice. "Mad Dog showed up. He won't show up again."

Isabel snatched up the cloak with shaking fingers. She pushed the damp edge into Levi's face, forcing him to leap back and bang his elbow against the table.

"Dammit, Isabel," he cursed, shoving her away, elbow throbbing. "Do you know what I could catch from those disgusting fools?"

"So it _is_ blood! And you said it was just Mad Dog! How many of them were there? Eh?" Isabel couldn't be restrained. She continued to shake the cloak at Levi until he jerked it from her grasp and threw the soiled material unceremoniously into the sink.

"Leave it alone. I'm here, aren't I? Why aren't you relieved that I'm back like you always are?"

"Because it's three in the morning and you're covered in someone else's blood! Levi…" Isabel rested a hand on his shoulder, but he shucked her off and flipped the faucet on, dousing the cloak and his hands in rusty liquid. "This is getting serious. You have to tell us what you're doing. You…"

Levi whirled, glaring her into silence.

"If you won't tell us what you're doing, we'll leave."

Both of them turned to Farlan, who remained in the doorway of the bedroom. His face didn't have any sort of extreme expression on it. It was simply collected, his eyes taking in the scene around him. His thin hands were clasped behind his back and he stood his full height, his bland beige hair nearly brushing the top of the doorframe.

"We're tired of sleepless nights and worrying about you when we shouldn't have to," Farlan continued. "This is your final chance to right things. You tell us where you've been going all these nights, why you come home with blood on your face and clothes, or Isabel and I will leave."

Levi stared at him, this boy who suddenly thought he could make up the rules. He was abruptly brought back to the time they first met, when Levi had glared at Farlan's outstretched hand which, at the time, had been much smaller, though just as thin and knuckled. Farlan hadn't seem to mind the look. He had only pocketed his hand and asked if Levi knew of any place to get cheap tea leaves. Levi knew of every crook and niche in this hellhole that even had the smell of tea leaves, so of course he directed Farlan in the right direction. And a strange friendship had blossomed from that day forward. A friendship that was more Levi and less Farlan.

But never in Levi's mind had he ever assumed the roles would flip. That Farlan could be this demanding, this brash. Where would they go, if Levi decided not to tell them? This was the only safe, disinfected place in the city. Outside these walls was a dangerous city that didn't care if it took the life of a four-year-old or a fifty-four-year-old. There was no place as safe a haven as this one he had made.

In the heat of his anger, Levi wanted to know. "You think you can pick up and leave, just like that?"

Farlan seemed to be prepared for Levi's backlash. "I have few possessions. Isabel has fewer. There are others like you who need partners, and others unlike you that care about their partners' mental state."

"I'm uncaring, is that it?" Levi spat. Isabel had backed away from him, which only gave him more room to bristle. "You want someone who will care about your feelings and be there as a shoulder to cry on when things get tough, is that what you want?"

Farlan said nothing. His arms had laced themselves against his chest and a small wrinkle had appeared between his brows. Levi knew Farlan could be cruel when he was aggravated, but he was drowning in his own rage, too deep to stop.

"Your next partner will take you in, but he won't feed you and clothe you like I do. He won't triple-check the vegetables at the market for worms. He won't test the water every two days to make sure it's still drinkable. He won't take on jobs too dangerous for any man, let alone a kid half his target's height, just so they won't go hungry for the next week."

He could see the guilt in their eyes as he spoke, recognizing it because it was the same guilt that had built up in his own body for the past month.

"I have never kept secrets from you before, so you must understand this is important," Levi pressed, his voice cracking with desperation. "I don't know where this…assignment…will lead and until I do, you will be in the dark."

Isabel began to protest, but Farlan cleared his throat to silence her.

Levi felt his anger fading away, like a kettle being drained of liquid. "I've never done anything to make you not trust me," he muttered, "so shut up about your damn hurt feelings." He turned back to the sink, which had filled halfway with copper water. Levi fished out a part of the cloak that had clogged the drain and it began to empty with a gargling noise.

The cloak was completely soaked now, and Levi grabbed the sliver of soap and began to scrape it into the fabric. The suds turned pink with lifted blood, but that was good. His movements were methodical, soothing. Farlan and Isabel knew better than to disrupt him during a task such as this, one that not only cleaned the item in his grasp but also scratched the uncomfortable itch in the back of his head, yet he felt a small hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Isabel, her cheeks covered in trails of silent tears.

"Would you like some tea, Levi?" she asked, voice soft.

Farlan had disappeared; it was just the two of them in the kitchen. After a breath, Levi returned to scrub out the stains with blunt nails. "We only have one tin of leaves left," he said to his hands.

"I didn't see any fresh tins at the market today," responded Isabel. She filled the tea pot quietly, but Levi could see her hands shaking. Without knowing why, he took hold of one of her palms. It was clammy, probably because she was so worked up, and the soap on Levi's fingers made their hands slippery. He could hear Isabel swallow.

"I'm okay," he told her, unable to look directly into her eyes. "I was protecting someone. If I hadn't killed them…an innocent person would have died."

Isabel nodded, her chin quivering a little less. She took the pot to the stove and lit it. Levi returned to his cloak, but suddenly she was there again, clinging to him like a child to her mother. Her nose was buried into his shoulder.

"Please be safe. I don't know what I would do without you."

Something warm blossomed in Levi's chest, spreading to his fingers and toes and cheeks, and he remained at the sink for another hour, scrubbing and scrubbing at a cloak that was already blood-free.

...

_**Hi everyone! Wow, this really took off! I wasn't sure if anyone would take to this, as I'm straying from Levi's canon backstory, but I wanted to thank you all for your support and interest! I've slowed down a bit in my writing because of the semester, but don't worry. I have enough content for a few more weeks (until the creativity comes back)! :D Reviews and critiques are always welcome!**_


	5. IV

IV

FIVE YEARS OLD

Finn preferred to cat-nap. His back was always sore from the flat mattress he slept on and he had to get up to use the toilet every few hours anyway; he hadn't slept through the night in he couldn't remember how long. Although his new guest made sleep even more elusive. He had moved her to his own bedroom after Levi had left, her body dead weight as lay her atop the blankets.

He still couldn't believe _the_ Levi had brought her to him. That _the _Levi had killed five terrible thugs at his doorstep. Well, he supposed he should believe Levi had killed those men, but he didn't think the rumors had been true. Finn rubbed his hands over his face with a sigh. He was just a kid. Skinny, like he barely ate enough to survive, and tiny, which, now that Finn thought about it, was most likely the reason he could move so fast. It was how he had lasted in this pitiful city so long.

"Hello."

If he hadn't been so old, Finn might have jumped to his feet. Instead, he settled for a disgruntled, "By the walls, child!" with a jolt in his seat on the sofa.

The girl stood in the doorway to his bedroom. Her arms were hanging away from her body, like she had been drenched by a bucket of water, and she probably was soaking with sweat if she was up and moving now. Finn checked his pocket watch; it was almost four in the morning.

"I made your bed wet."

Finn smiled kindly. "Your fever broke. That's good. It means you're getting better."

"Do you have a cloth to get rid of the stickiness?" she asked, still contorted into that uncomfortable position.

Finn rocked to his feet with a quiet grunt. "Why don't we get you into the bath?"

"You have a bath bucket?"

Finn pointed over his shoulder to the washroom and the girl followed his direction, eyeing him once before passing him and peering into the darkness. Finn adjusted the oil lamps and light filled the small room, the basin cracked but still able to hold water. He turned the faucet on with a couple creaking twists.

The girl's eyes widened considerably as she watched the basin fill. "This is amazing!"

"Have you ever had a bath before?" Finn asked, his heart contracting as he waited for her answer.

The girl gripped the edge of the basin, the water rising over halfway now. It was a bit rusty, but cleaner than most. "I've never washed in such a big bucket! All the women I know have only a little bucket. And sometimes I don't get a bath because the other children have used up all the water before I get there. But it's okay! I know how to wash with a cloth."

Finn stuck a fingertip into the running tap. Lukewarm water flowed out, but it was better than ice cold. The girl shucked off her too-big jacket and stuck her arms into the water, all the way up to her shoulders.

"This is cool!" she exclaimed, laughter bubbling past her pink lips.

"Don't overexert yourself," Finn warned. "You're still getting over your sickness."

"What's 'overexert?'"

Finn turned off the water. "To do more than you can handle."

"I can handle this," the girl said matter-of-factly. "I've been sicker for longer before. Are you a doctor?"

Finn had turned to grab a new bar of soap—he figured she wouldn't want to use the one he had used already—and in that short time the girl had stripped down to her bare butt and was halfway into the water. Finn carefully helped her in by her armpits and handed her the soap. "Yes, I'm the doctor for this section of the district. What's this?" and Finn held his hand open as she unfurled her tiny fist over it.

The beautiful gold ring hit his palm, followed by the mesmerizing shine of the gold chain it was looped through.

"That's my special necklace. Don't lose it, okay? It's mine."

Finn pulled his glasses down from the top of his head and examined the ring. It looked to be true gold, and the emerald shone in the dim lamplight. "Where does a little girl like you get a pretty ring like this?

"Necklace," she corrected, "and I'm not little. I'm five."

"Sorry," Finn smiled.

"It's okay. I've always had it. When I was little, the woman who took care of me told me my momma had given it to me before she died. It's the only thing I have of her, which is why it's so special. I always wear it." She was scrubbing the soap bar over her thin arms as she spoke. As soon as she was finished, the bar slipped out of her hands and splashed into the basin, effectively splattering Finn with bath water.

"Why did you give it to me, then? You don't know me," he said, wiping droplets from his face.

"A doctor spends all his life trying to make people better. And you don't look very threatening," she added.

Finn laughed outright. Levi had been right. This girl wasn't like any child he had ever met. She had _life_ in her. "What's your name, child?"

"Challis. What's yours?"

"Finn."

"Like on a fish?"

"Two N's."

"What's too-ens?"

Finn crouched beside the basin, rolling up his sleeves before helping Challis dunk her dark hair. "Fish fins only has one N at the end. My name has two."

"Oh. My name has two L's. So that makes us friends."

"Does it?" Finn soaped up her head. The bubbles made a clean halo against her skin and she grinned up at him with her tiny baby teeth.

"Yeah!"

"Are you friends with Levi, too?"

Her grin faded. "Who's Levi?"

Finn paused. Although he had seen Levi kill those men, had seen him catch Challis before she hit her head on the ground, he had assumed they knew each other. Maybe he had been mistaken. He picked through his words. "Do…you know what happened last night?"

Challis mirrored his hesitation. Her eyes were very green, her lashes clumped together from rubbing at her face with wet hands. Then, suddenly, she blinked. "Levi is my friend."

She had said it slowly, as if the realization of it was like the sunrise dawning over the walls.

"Levi is my friend," she said again, staring down at the soap bar shimmering in the bottom of the basin. "Levi…is supposed to be a scary man. But he's just a kid. Like me."

Finn could hear the soft _pop_ of tiny bubbles still lost in her hair. Challis sat in silence for a few minutes, contemplating what only a five-year-old could contemplate. Then, she flung herself back into the water, surprising Finn to his feet as it all sloshed around the basin. Some had crested over the edge. He could see her little hand clasped around her nose, and she didn't come up for thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two—

Challis broke the surface of the water and didn't pause to wipe her eyes. "Why would Levi want to be my friend?"

She was staring directly at him, her eyes like jade fire, and Finn had no clue what to say to her.

"I'm just a kid. A girl. I asked him if he was trying to protect me, but he didn't answer me. And I asked him if he was my guardian angel, and he said no, but then he killed those big men because they wanted to do bad things to me. So which is it, Finn? Is he good or bad?"

Finn chewed his lip. In all honesty, he didn't know. Levi _had_ killed those men to protect Challis, but that didn't mean he didn't kill other men because he felt like it. He didn't know the boy. The only rumors he had heard were of a shadow wielding a knife, and that was most thugs down here in the city.

Though, this was the only shadow resembling a young boy.

"I don't know, child," said Finn, because Challis's staring was beginning to make him sweat. "People are not inherently good or bad. They're a mix of both."

"Am I good?"

The look on her sweet face could set the whole city on fire. Finn couldn't help but smile. "You're the best. Don't let anything change that, okay?"

Challis peered down at her wrinkled fingers quietly, squeezing them together and then opening them again. Then she stood. "Do you have a towel, Finn? I'm done."

They didn't talk for a while after that. Finn dried her off and she pulled on her same worn clothing. Finn wished he could give her something better to wear, but she was so small she would drown in anything he put on her. He returned her necklace and she immediately tucked it down the collar of her shirt. She fiddled with it now as Finn did his best to comb out her knotted hair.

"Maria, I'm sorry," Finn said after the third yank on a particular snarl.

"That's okay. Who's Maria?"

Finally, Finn smoothed out the knot, combing through it twice more just to be sure. "Well…do you know about the land above this city?"

"Yeah. Mr. Guy talks about how he delivers goods from the surface to people down here. Have you ever been up there?"

Finn felt a flood of memories crash through his skull, but he willed them back into the darkness. "I have. I used to live up there."

"Wow!" Challis spun with unrestrained enthusiasm, hanging on one of his knees. "What does it look like? Are there buildings like down here? Is it muddy? Do they eat bread and soup? Do people live on the streets?"

Finn leaned back with a sigh. "The surface goes on forever. Even beyond the walls, there's nothing but green fields and tall trees and blue skies."

Challis's eyes were as round as cart wheels. "The sky is blue?" she cooed.

"And it rains sometimes."

"What's rain?"

"Water that falls from the sky in tiny little drops." Finn wiggled his fingers through the air as he spoke; Challis giggled as he brought them down to tap her cheeks. "There are cities like this one, but they're clean of muck and sickness, and everyone has a house to live in with their families. They raise cattle and sheep and goats to eat with their corn and potatoes and pumpkins and squash."

Challis was awestruck. She was hanging on his every word, and it didn't feel as bad as he thought, telling her of his once-home.

"There are three walls. We live under Wall Sina, the inner-most wall. Then there's Wall Rose, and on the outside is Wall Maria."

"And that's what you said earlier!"

Finn nodded. "Wall Maria is the biggest and Wall Sina is the smallest. Sina is where the king lives, and a lot of the richer folk."

"Hey Finn," and he had been waiting for this question, "why are there walls on the surface? You said the fields and the sky go on forever, but there are walls."

He had been waiting for the question, but now that it was there, he didn't quite know how to put it into words for a five-year-old. "Do you know how to read?" he asked.

"Mostly," Challis shrugged.

Finn was impressed. He had learned to read when he was eight. "Here," and he stood, careful to step over her kneeling form, and went to his bookshelf. It took him a moment, but he found the book with an _ah-ha_ and pulled it off the top shelf. The cover was tattered and worn, the title gone, but the pages inside were golden and readable. He returned to Challis and handed it to her, opening to one of the beginning chapters.

"Start here," he pointed, and so she did.

"'Hu-man-it-y has fought the Ti-tans since before re-cor-ded his-tor-y,'" she read, carefully pronouncing the words in pieces before moving on. "'For over fif-ty years, the Ti-tans have been kept out of hu-man terr-i-tory by the walls, named Maria, Rose, and Sina. This has stopped the ad-vance-ment of the Ti-tans and has allowed hu-man-it-y to flour-ish.'"

Challis glanced over her shoulder at him. "So, there are Ti-tans that attack people? What do they look like?"

Finn flipped the page and pointed. Challis made a disgusted noise.

"They're naked!"

"And very, very big," Finn added.

"Which is why the walls are…" She scanned the text. "'Fif-ty me-ters high?'"

"Right. I got this book as a gift from my father when I was a boy, so it's a little outdated. It's probably been about seventy or so years since the walls have kept out the Titans."

"That's a long time. Hey, what's this?"

Challis was bent over the pages, so Finn had to crane his neck to see what she was looking at, but then he felt a little whorl of excitement. "That machine is called omni-directional maneuver gear. It helps the military get around the cities, or attack Titans when they're outside the walls."

She whirled, eyes wide. "Why would you _ever_ want to leave the walls with those creepy _things_ out there?"

"Why _are_ there creepy things out there?" asked Finn in response.

Challis shrugged.

"That's why," he concluded.

"How does the machine thing work?" she asked, and Finn had to swallow to try to dampen the thrill.

His father had bought the book at the market when he was out and brought it home to Finn, because all Finn ever talked about as a child was entering the military. He told his parents he had wanted to be a military doctor, but in truth all he wanted was to have his own set of maneuver gear to tinker with. He knew this particular book inside and out, forward and backward. Even if she was simply curious, he felt as if all his knowledge was finally being put to good use.

"It's attached to straps that are on the soldier," he said, voice quivering a bit, and he pointed to another labeled picture a few pages down. "There are fans and wires, and compressed gas that makes the machine go. It lifts them into the air rapidly, and if the soldier is any good at using it, it can keep him alive when he fights the Titans."

He wasn't sure if Challis had been listening; her eyes were shifting left and right as she read the paragraphs on the page, soaking in the information about the maneuver gear.

"It says there are blades too, that 'are used to cut a Ti-tan's nape.'"

"That's the only way to kill them."

"Have you ever used ommy-maneuver gear, Finn?"

Finn smiled sadly. "Never."

"Levi has some," Challis said off-handedly, and Finn felt his jaw hang. "Maybe he can let you borrow it sometime."

"L-Levi has…"

"I'm going to drive the ommy-maneuver gear when I get bigger," she continued, as if Finn hadn't just been shocked into stuttering. "And I wanna find out why Ti-tans hate us."

Finn shook his head a bit to clear it. "You…you have to gain citizenship on the surface for that, sweetheart."

Challis stood, taking the book in hand and meeting Finn's eye defiantly. "Maggy said my necklace will be enough to buy a life on the surface. So when I'm bigger, I'm gunna buy a life and I'm gunna drive the ommy-maneuver gear. I'm gunna find out why the Ti-tans hate us, and then we can break down the walls and be free."

Finn felt every muscle in his body sink into the sofa. This little girl had somehow become a woman in the few hours he had interacted with her. A woman who, without any fear, was determined to get away from this city and make a life above. But did she know of the sacrifices the Survey Corps made at every expedition? Did she know that making it back alive when riding past the walls was a feat few made? And did she know what it felt like to see the people you've worked with, sweated with, slept beside, became friends with, get torn into pieces and eaten before your very eyes? Did she know the pure terror that rose like bile in your throat when you pick up a hand you once shook to take back to the family for them to cry over and bury?

No. She was five years old and naïve. Though this city had been the greatest hardship she had faced, and she had done well in rising above it, she knew nothing of the hell on the surface, waiting to crush her spirit.

Finn smiled and took her little hand in his and squeezed it. "I'll be rooting for you, sweetheart."

Challis beamed, and Finn's heart broke a little more.

...

_**Hey everyone! I know these chapters are getting a bit shorter (around 2-3k). The first couple were longer because I wanted to set things up. We get to see more of Challis's side of things in this chapter. I tried to keep her child-like, but sometimes it's hard! Anyway, reviews and critiques are always welcome! Thank you for your support :)**_


	6. V

V

FIVE YEARS OLD

This was not in Levi's job description. He was not someone who did good deeds. Doing good deeds got you killed down here, and he was someone who had a lot of living left to do. He glared at the back of Isabel's head as if he could somehow put a hole into it, or maybe singe her hair a bit. Farlan knocked him with an elbow, their close proximity making it easy.

"This has been bugging her for days," Farlan half-whispered, half-mouthed. "Just go along with it."

Levi ground his teeth together but remained where he was.

They were crouched in the shadows of an alleyway of District Eight, close to their home. They were actually very close to Mia, the woman Challis stayed with during her trips to this district. She was a few blocks east, and Levi got caught up in the way Challis had interacted with Mia, the smile brightening her dirty-stained face and the bread clasped between her thin fingers.

Another elbow to his side. Levi grimaced and was prepared to elbow Farlan back just as hard, but he realized they had risen to their feet, attention locked on a carriage across the street. There was a commotion, and Levi saw the man in charge of the carriage seize a sickly gentleman by the collar.

"B-but sir! Please, we're desperate!" cried the sickly gentleman.

The man threw him back, and he toppled into the crowd that had gathered. A few women grasped him by the upper arms to hold him steady.

"Get back!" the man shouted at the crowd. "Only those with a permit will be getting anything from me, so no permit, no pills!"

"Please, sir," the sickly gentleman pleaded with a croak, "my son, he's dying…"

"He's better off, if you ask me," grunted the man. "Now get outta here."

"We've got to do something," Isabel said, emerald eyes locked on the carriage. "That man has no heart!"

"There are laws, Iz," Farlan reminded gently. Levi peered between their bodies, still crouching in the shadows. "We can't just take what isn't ours."

"Why not? We do it all the time! And for bad reasons."

"Getting paid to steal so we can eat is a bad reason?" Farlan raised an eyebrow.

"Aye, and if you aren't going to help me then go." Isabel gave him a dirty look, her nose crinkled in anger, and pulled up her hood. "I'm going to help."

Without a conscious decision, Levi pushed past her. He made sure to stiff-arm her as he went to keep her in her place.

"Levi!" Farlan hissed, and Levi felt Isabel scrabble for a hold on his sleeve to pull him back, but he slipped into the street easily. He brought up his hood and slid through the group like water through fingers, stepping into the center where the carriage man was guarding his wares.

"Who are you?" he spat, unperturbed. "Got a permit?"

Levi glanced about; his eyes landed on the sickly gentleman, who watched him with a slight tremble to his frail body.

"How many?" asked Levi.

"I…I need two boxes."

"No permit, no pills," the man squawked, as if he were some sort of crow repeating a common phrase.

Levi turned back to the man and held up two fingers.

The man sneered down at him. "No permit, no pills."

"Three words in your vocabulary. Unsurprising for man of your competence."

"Listen here, kid—" As soon as the man's hand gripped his collar, Levi gouged out a chunk of his forearm. He reared back with a scream, blood everywhere, and Levi wondered how many more times he would have to get covered in disgusting scarlet droplets before he would learn to step out of the way.

"I said, two boxes," Levi said again, and slashed a hole in the carriage tarp with his now-bloodied knife. "I despise repeating myself." He reached inside, rummaged around, and pulled out two boxes of medication; he threw them to the old man, who juggled them a bit, startled.

Now that the carriage man was out of the way, Levi was bombarded with the crowd. With one swift movement of his knife, they gave him a wide arc, the ones nearest him gasping loudly. "Don't touch me," grunted Levi as he moved away from the carriage. Once he was free of the crowd, they attacked the carriage with vigor and urgency. The man who had brought it was rolling on the cobblestone clutching his still-bleeding arm and howling to a deaf audience.

Levi returned to Isabel and Farlan, wiping his blade clean on a spare rag.

"Thank you, Levi!" Isabel cheered.

"Look at all those boxes," Farlan said, still watching the crowd. They were handing around the medication freely now. "You've probably saved a couple handfuls of people."

"Let's get out of here," Levi muttered, and neither of the two complained. They melded into the shadows, letting the crowd take what they needed for their families.

"Thank you, Levi," Isabel repeated for the ninth time.

"I'm sure you saved ten, maybe fifteen lives," Farlan also repeated for the seventh time.

Levi wanted to punch them both in the face, but instead, he wiped off his boots at the door and hung his cloak on a hook. It had only been a ten-minute walk back home, but they hadn't let up and he was looking for a way out of this uncomfortably warm sensation radiating from his chest. "Have either of you heard anything from Sid recently?"

"Actually, he said he had something important to talk to us about," Farlan recalled. "He sounded frustrated."

"When?"

Farlan flopped into a chair, a book somehow in his hand already. "Tonight."

Levi felt his chest clench like a fist had grabbed hold of him. "You'll have to go alone."

"You're going out again?" said Farlan, and Isabel gave him a side-long glance. She had been keeping her distance since that night, but Levi could tell it was slowly killing her.

He tried to ignore the awkwardness. "Can you handle Sid alone? Isabel?"

Isabel pouted and folded her arms with a huff. "I'll behave," she grumbled.

He had been worried something like this would happen. Levi was going to visit Finn and Farlan and Isabel would have to meet Sid without him. He had this terrible feeling he was the only thing keeping Sid at bay, or his brawny worm mustache guard. If something happened to them…

No. He trusted them and their skills. As long as Isabel kept her big mouth shut, they would be fine.

And besides, he hadn't seen Challis in three days. He figured she would be out for a while, considering how bad her fever had been when he left her with Finn, and the fact that Finn actually recognized him had made him worried. What if others recognized him, realized he was a killer and a thief, and turned him in to the Military Police? Farlan and Isabel would be close behind and then they would never get out of this damned city. He needed to keep his face out of the streets, for their sake.

"Take your gear," Levi said as he padded barefoot to his bedroom and closed the door.

He had gotten some blood on his shirt during the fray, so he pulled it over his head swiftly, letting it fall to the floor as he opened the wardrobe for another. The single looking glass in the room was facing the wall; Levi had turned it that way after a particularly gruesome job that had left a shallow but lengthy wound across his chest. He had been sick of seeing the failure scabbing over his skin. It was a hollow reminder he had lost them a week's worth of pay and they would have to live off even smaller portions until Sid decided to hand them another job.

Levi pulled the clean shirt over his head, the short sleeves exposing his two knife sheaths on either forearm and the many miniscule scars of rose flesh that littered his skin like needles. He wondered if other fourteen-year-old boys had as many scars as him, if they had seen what he'd seen.

His mind wandered to Challis as he sunk onto the lumpy mattress. The girl had seen a lot at such a young age, and she had seen even more when he had killed Mad Dog and his followers. How badly he wished he could take that memory from her and shred it.

_What do you think of me now_?

Levi fell into a fitful nap, eyes fluttering, breath heavy, until he woke himself up with a start. He had dreamt Challis had accused him of his wrongdoings and had thrust a knife into his gut with dull eyes.

He emerged from his room fully clothed, including his gear, which he tightened with trembling fingers. When he glanced up to gripe at Isabel for leaving crumbs at the table, he realized he was alone.

_They must have left already, which means I'm late._

With an added urgency, Levi plucked his cloak from beside the door and lurched into the streets.

...

Levi didn't have to knock; the door swung open as he raised an arm.

"Come in, come in," Finn said, stepping aside to give him space. Levi did his best to knock off the scum of the streets before he allowed himself inside. "I heard someone unmanned a medical carriage in District Eight…do you know anything about that?"

Levi frowned. "No."

"Levi!"

His ears definitely didn't perk up at the sound of his name, and he definitely didn't rock onto his toes when Challis appeared in the doorway of a side room. Then it hit him he had never told her his name, and he whipped to Finn with barely controlled panic.

Finn shrugged, a smile evident on his wrinkled face. "I thought she knew. She absolutely knows now."

"Levi, Levi," and Levi felt his heart throbbing in his throat and stomach and ears. "You left this here! And guess whaaat!" Challis drew out the last word in a sort of song, waving his hand-stitched mask in front of him like a treat. "I'm not letting you have it until I see your secret face!"

Levi's secret face was currently three shades of red beneath his hood. "No," he said on instinct, and instantly regretted it.

Challis pouted and crossed her skinny arms. "Why not? I thought we were friends. Are we not friends anymore? Because I decide that. And _I_ say we're still friends."

Levi glanced to Finn. He had the shittiest smirk on his face Levi had ever seen on anyone, and he'd seen a lot of shitty smirks. He turned back to Challis. Her pout was impressive.

"Why do you want to see my face?"

"Why can you see mine, but I can't see yours?" she countered.

Fair point. But it wasn't just about seeing faces. This was about protecting her, her and her stupidly adorable pout from his tarnished reputation.

Levi licked his lips and slowly knelt before her, his gear clanking as he adjusted. There was a sheen of light in her gently curling hair and she smelled like sage leaves. She looked healthy and _clean_, and Levi knew he would have to find some way of thanking Finn for taking care of her.

"Alright," Levi breathed, and let his hood drop softly to his shoulders.

Her eyes were carving his skin like razors, wide and unrestrained, and Levi felt as if a bright light was suddenly on him and only him, exposing every corner he'd ever hidden of himself, from himself. His hands were trembling again, and his jaw was clenched so tightly his teeth were sore.

"You look…like you wanna throw up."

Levi tried to look less nauseated. "That's all you have to say, brat?"

Challis grinned, and Levi blinked.

"You lost a tooth," he murmured.

"Yeah! Finn said if I put it in my shoe, a fairy will come and take it and leave a present!"

She bolted from the room.

"A fairy?" Levi chided, a bit disturbed.

Finn smiled, but this time it had a tinge of wretchedness to it. "Don't you think she's had enough hardships in her life?"

Before Levi could respond, Challis ran up to him with a copper coin clenched between a thumb and index finger.

"See! See, Levi, the fairy came and left a coin! She must've really liked my tooth!"

"Must've," he heard himself say. He wasn't sure if he'd really said it at all; the pure elation on her face made his brain fuzzy.

"Hey, Levi," she began, reaching for his cloak. "Do you have your ommy-maneuver gear on? Finn really wants to see it."

"Ah, no, sweetheart, it's okay." Finn shook his hands at Levi in a surrendering gesture.

"What did you say?" asked Levi.

"Ommy-maneuver gear. Finn has a book and I'm reading it. Does yours have some blades? Or do you use your handgrips when they're empty?"

"And you can read," Levi mumbled, stunned.

Finn sidled over and dropped to a knee, limbs cracking with age. He took Levi's mask from her and squeezed her palms affectionately. "Why don't you read at the table, sweetheart. I know you're excited to see Levi, but I'd like to talk with him a bit, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed, and her face fell.

"It won't be long," Finn assured. When Challis was seated at the table, her legs swinging as she flipped to her page she'd bookmarked with a bent corner, Finn gestured for Levi to sit on the sofa. Levi sat, numb.

"Here you are," Finn started. He handed over the mask and Levi took it without looking at it. After a breath of silence, "Are you alright?"

"Um," said Levi, intelligently.

"I can tell you she's just as you said. She is nothing like the other children. She's…"

"Marvelous," Levi murmured, watching Challis turn a page. She was sitting on her legs, a hand under her chin as she poured over the book, completely absorbed in the words.

"She wants to leave."

Not fully understanding Finn, he responded with "She'll be fine."

"The city, Levi." When he pulled himself away from her, he saw the way Finn's lips were pursed. The way his fingers knotted together in his lap, almost like they were holding each other together. "She says she wants to find out why the Titans are attacking us. She wants to join the military someday."

Levi could physically feel himself turn green, his stomach twisting and flipping and swooping in his abdomen, and he shot to his feet. He leapt nimbly over Finn's outstretched arm and slammed Challis's book shut with a snap.

"You are _never _leaving the walls," Levi growled. He had a hand on her shoulder and he knew his fingers were digging into her pretty porcelain skin but he couldn't stop. "You will _never_ join the military, let alone the Survey Corps. Do you understand?"

Challis peered up at him dubiously. "You don't even know why I wanna join."

"Titans attack us because it's what they do. They don't care who they attack, they just do it. Do you know how?" Levi seethed. "They _eat us_. They snap off our arms and legs and bite off our heads, they rip us in half and crunch our bones, they—"

"_Levi!_"

Finn's sharp voice stopped him from continuing, but it didn't have the effect he needed. Challis was furious. Her eyebrows were scrunched tightly over long lashes, her nose crinkled, her lips drawn back so she looked like a vicious animal.

"But why! You don't know, Finn doesn't know, the person who wrote this book doesn't know. I wanna know why! Why do they hate us? Why can't they be our friends?" With a loud smack, Challis removed Levi's hand from her shoulder and stood tall on her chair, which brought her eye level with him. "I'm not scared to go outside, unlike you. All you ever do is fly around with your ommy-dumb gear and kill people!"

Levi flinched.

"When I get bigger, I'm selling my necklace to buy a life and I'm gunna join the military and find out why the Ti-tans hate us. And you have to be okay with that."

"Oh, I do, do I?"

"Yeah. Because that's what friends do."

Levi ground his teeth. Challis bent to pick up the book, jumped to the floor, promptly smacked his elbow with the thick novel as hard as her little arms would allow, and stomped away.

"And you closed my finger in my book!" she screamed before slamming the door with a resolute _BANG_.

The house was as silent as the dead. Levi was shaking from head to foot and his chest was caving in. He scratched at the place where his straps fastened over his torso, his skin scraping against the cold metal, until finally he found purchase and ripped the leather free. Then he was pulling his cloak strings, but they knotted at once. He yanked without thought until he let out a breath that sounded like a shout and cut the strings with a knife. The fabric pooled around his boots in a bland heap.

Levi chucked the knife as hard as he could; it lodged into the door Challis hid behind. He threw the second and it struck directly beneath the first with a dull thud.

"Levi."

Levi was pulling off his gear piece by piece, throwing the heavy machinery to the floor and didn't care if he dented the wood or the gear. He had to get this weight off him, off his shoulders, his chest. The scabbards collapsed on either side of him. The fan dropped at his heels. He was tangling himself in his straps in his rush to get them off because he needed _air_, he needed the weight on his lungs to disappear, and with one misstep he toppled to the floor in a heap of limbs and metal.

"Levi," and this time he looked up, heaving.

Finn hovered over him, a sad look on his old face. He peered down at the mess.

"Let's have a cup of tea," Finn said kindly, and went to make it.

Levi let his head fall back against the wood. He would never admit it to anyone outside that room but for the first time since his mother died, burning tears dripped down his temples and wet his ears. He threw an arm over his face because the shame of crying burned just as much as the tears, and his lithe, tough body shook like a frozen kitten during the winter. He felt as if a Titan had ripped off his own limbs, one by one, until he was nothing but a torso. And somewhere between him losing his limbs and him dying a horrible, painful death, his heart had been plucked from his chest and smeared into the dirt.

Finn made him a scalding cup of Earl Grey.

...

_**Hi all! Sorry to upload this a day late-I completely forgot to do it yesterday because I was busy worrying about all the things I have to do this week! This chapter was fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it. Critiques, reviews, comments are always welcome! Have a good week :)**_


	7. VI

VI

FIVE YEARS OLD

It had been six days.

Six days of pacing from the kitchen to the door and back again. Six days of no work, slurping down pot after pot of tea, sleeping three hours a night if he was lucky. Six days of disinfecting the house over and over until his rags came away as clean as if he had picked them out of the laundry. On the fourth day, Levi found even Isabel had begun to avoid him.

Farlan had disappeared around Day Two.

"I just don't want to dirty anything," Isabel had claimed before she carefully disappeared into her bedroom cradling a chunk of bread and a raw potato. Levi had plopped at the table and had barely moved since.

Cleaning the things around him helped him clear out the clutter in his head. He knew he got a bit too much to handle sometimes, and he knew being cooped up like this was probably driving the other two insane as well. Which was why he sat carving his nails into the wooden tabletop instead of following Isabel around and wiping the crumbs he knew she was dribbling at this very moment.

He didn't know what else to do.

His insides were raw, shredded, his stomach twisted like fabric, his lungs on fire with every scalding breath he took. He knew he was being ridiculous; that didn't make his emotions any less present.

Levi wanted to cry. He wanted to scream—at himself, at Challis, at Finn for letting her read that stupid book.

He knew what the Survey Corps was and what the soldiers signed up for. He'd taken a good number of jobs involving those in the military and had interacted with more Military Police soldiers than Garrison or Scout, but their complaints hadn't landed on deaf ears.

Useless. Fodder. Suicidal.

All words used against the smallest branch. They were always dying and always recruiting. An endless, bloody cycle.

Challis wanted to be a part of it.

Levi dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, rubbed until the darkness sparked with white pinpricks. He hadn't handled the situation very well. Obviously. He revisited the same internal conflict that had been raging in him since that night.

Her dream or her life?

Challis was five. She had years ahead of her. With that decorated gold around her throat, she could easily live a peaceful life on the surface in a cozy home with a soft bed and regular meals. She could have a family, children, a husband to protect her.

Levi's heart throbbed against his sternum. His chest ached.

Or, when she came of age, she could buy her way out of this city only to throw it away a few years later. And how could Levi ever look himself in the face and come to terms with the fact he had allowed her to do so?

In his mind, it was no question. But his heart was fighting back.

There was a slight _click_ in the background. Levi hardly heard it. He didn't even turn to see what it was. He didn't have the energy.

Hands landed on either of his shoulders and gave a tight but reassuring squeeze.

"Your hair is getting long."

Isabel.

Levi grunted in response. He was way past coherent sentences.

"You never go this long without shaping it." Red hair spilled into the corner of his vision. "Let me cut it for you, Levi."

More grunting; apparently it hadn't sounded negative.

"Aye, let's get you up."

She gave a heave and Levi slid off the chair sideways, his muscles kicking in at the last second to hold him upright. Isabel looked pleased. She pulled the chair into the center of the room and came back for him, leading him to it.

"Now sit again."

Levi collapsed into it.

"Stay," she said, as if he was really going anywhere. When she returned, she held a towel, a comb from Levi's toilet room, a pair of scissors, and a straight razor.

"Towel goes here," recited Isabel. She wound it around his shoulders to keep stray hair from clinging to Levi's shirt. "I'll start with the longer pieces, okay?"

Levi said nothing. She knew him well; he always started with the longer strands.

The only sound in the house was the scissors chipping away the uneven strands of Levi's raven hair. Everything else was silent. This silence was different than the silence of a few minutes ago; it had a soothing effect on Levi's frayed nerves. Instead of the screams that had erupted in Finn's home, there was bubbling laughter and Levi's name in that little girl voice he had somehow been trained to obey. They weren't in the house anymore; they were in a field of grass. He had heard grass was pliant underfoot, a soft place to land or to lay. They were laying in the softness, side-by-side, staring up into the nothingness of the sky.

No, not nothingness. Levi had seen the sky before. His mother had held him aloft when he was a child to catch the sun's blinding rays. She had told him it made him strong and it was imperative he stand in the sunlight every so often to keep up his health. He had seen massive, puffy white clouds race across the expansive blue, chasing each other like cats chasing mice. He had seen thunderheads rolling in and felt the rain on his face, had danced in it while his mother stood beneath the edge of the sinkhole to stay dry.

The picture in his mind's eye changed as Isabel rounded him and pulled at the inky strands on either side of his face to compare length. They were laying in the grass, side-by-side, and great mounds of clouds floated above them. The sun was high but there was a breeze that kept them cool.

"Levi," he heard her say, and he turned to her with the lightest feeling in his chest.

Her gaze was on the sky, watching the clouds. The light of the afternoon turned her eyes to blazing shards of jade.

"I want to stay with you, but you have to promise me something."

_Anything, _Levi wanted to say, but the words were stuck behind his teeth.

She turned to him with a strange look on her face. "If I want to leave, you have to let me go."

Levi jerked, and suddenly Isabel's babbling filled his ears.

"—nicked you and I'm sorry, there's blood on the towel, it's not bad but I feel terrible, I'm so sorry, Levi, does it hurt?"

Levi stood and fingered the injury gingerly. Only a small cut. It would scab within a couple hours. He took the towel from his shoulders and dabbed at it.

"Finished?" he said a little too bluntly.

Isabel set the straight razor on the table. "Aye. Want me to get the broom?"

Before he could tell her he'd rather have a dog come in and lick the floor clean than have her sweep the hair under the rug, Farlan appeared for the first time in four days with pursed lips and a dagger.

"Someone's here," he said quietly, and just as he finished, there was a pounding at the door.

The room froze. Levi could hear Isabel suck in a breath and hold it as he drew out his own knives from their sheathes. Then—

"Open up, Levi! I've a message from Sid!" More banging.

The three of them relaxed only slightly.

"Sid never sends messengers," Farlan said, voicing their thoughts exactly.

"Let him in before he explodes," Isabel called. Farlan opened the door with the dagger still firmly locked in his grip.

It wasn't Worm Mustache. It wasn't anyone Levi recognized, but he hadn't made a move at any of them, so he must be here like he said.

"What is it, then?" grunted Farlan. His lanky frame blocked most of the view of the messenger. Levi could still make out his eyes, squinted and hard.

"Sid wants you to know he's upped the price on that chick's head," the messenger said. He ducked out of sight to spit over the ledge; Levi shuddered. "You catch her, each of you gets enough coin for citizenship. That's what you want, yeah?"

Farlan's expression didn't change. "He's pretty antsy to get this girl."

The messenger shrugged. "It's a big reputation booster. You understand."

"That it?"

"You get her in a week and he'll buy your citizenship himself."

Levi's fingers were tingling before Farlan even shut the door. If his heartrate increased any more, he'd probably drop of a heart attack before his next birthday. "Girl?"

Farlan leaned against wall, folding his arms neatly while still holding the dagger. "That meeting with Sid last week. I meant to mention it to you, but you came back so late I forgot."

"We've got to dedicate time for this. We could get our citizenship!" Isabel exclaimed.

Levi ignored her. "What girl?"

Farlan drew his attention away from Isabel's excited skipping. "Sid said there was a man on the surface who'll pay him well if we find his accident daughter. He wants her gone," and he drew a line across his throat with a thumb. "We bring the body to Sid and if he approves, we get the money. And, apparently, our citizenship on the surface."

The room began to blur, all the sharp edges and colors running together like mud in the streets.

"What…" Levi had to swallow around the sudden dryness in his throat. Isabel stopped skipping to give him a curious look. "What does she look like?"

Farlan shrugged. "Sid had no clue. He gave us descriptions on her parents, so we can kind of piece it together from that. Her mother was tall, long brown hair, dark eyes. Her father's fat, rich, light skinned, really bright green eyes—"

"Green?" Levi squeaked. He had never squeaked in his entire life. Isabel giggled at him.

"Aye, green. Like mine!" she said, pulling at one of her eyelids for fun.

Levi was in no laughing mood. His legs were shaking. Why were they shaking like this? He never got this worked up, even when he was surrounded by thugs thrice his size.

He bolted to his bedroom, ignoring their calls, and flopped onto the ground with a thud. He rummaged for his gear box and pulled on his straps, the scabbards, the fan, and ran to the door where his boots sat peacefully between Isabel's and Farlan's.

"Levi?" Isabel called, only just able to puncture the haze of his thoughts.

"I have to leave," was his only response, and he stole Isabel's cloak before shooting into the air from the doorway.

...

'_The steel wires are housed in the body of the gear, which is connected to the fan. This is installed at the lumbar region for sturdy and consistent flight patterns. There are two axels, one for each wire, which revolve independently for rapid direction changes._'

Challis studied the picture to the right of the words. It was labeled, and she picked out everything that was mentioned. There were even arrows to show how the axels revolved independently.

"What's 'independently', Finn?"

Finn adjusted his newspaper, the pages fluttering loudly from where he rested on the sofa. He rested a lot because his knees were always hurting him. "It means to do something by yourself."

The axels revolved by themselves. She paused.

"What's 'revolved'?"

"It's another word for 'spin.'"

Challis put the new knowledge together: the axels spun by themselves. She nodded once as confirmation in her mind and continued in the passage.

Though she didn't get far.

The door smashed into the wall behind it with a deafening _CRACK_. Challis leaped to the floor behind her chair, instincts kicking in before she had time to process it was Levi. He was staring right at her, gray eyes much wider than she'd ever seen them. They reminded her of how big Chet's eyeballs got when she showed up with a carrot; that massive horse loved carrots.

"Has anyone been here in the past week?" he gushed out. He sounded breathy.

"No. The only person I thought would show up hasn't. Until now." Finn folded his newspaper in that careful way of his, the pages flat and edges aligned. He pushed his glasses to the top of his head. "Are you okay, Levi?"

Challis popped her bottom lip out and crossed her arms. That's right. She was still mad at Levi. She might have forgotten once he had left, but the sight of him brought back memories that made her finger hurt. And maybe her heart.

"So she's okay?" Levi said, disbelieving. He shut the door and leaned against it, his cloak bunching up around his shoulders.

Finn eyed him. "She's okay."

Of course, she was okay. Why wouldn't she be? Challis had been minding her own business for the past week, reading her book, asking Finn about the words she didn't understand. She hadn't been outside the house once. If she thought about it, she felt a little jittery; she wondered more often than not if the women in the districts were concerned for her. She hadn't checked in with them in a while. It was just so nice here with Finn, and it was easier for Levi to find her.

Although this was the first she'd seen of him since their fight.

Now that Levi was satisfied with her well-being, the air filled with an awkward silence. Challis was the first to move. She picked up her book and padded to Finn's bedroom without looking at Levi.

"Challis, wait."

She didn't want to wait. She didn't want to talk to him. He didn't believe in her. He didn't think her dream to find out why the Ti-tans hated people was okay to have. Talking to him would only lead to more hurt fingers.

"Please," Levi added softly when she only hesitated. With a sigh, she spun to him with the book clutched to her body.

"What?"

Levi untied the cloak and folded it over a chair. Challis heard Finn's intake of breath at the sight of his ommy-maneuver gear, and she felt a wave of excitement as Levi neared her, the metal clanking in time with his footsteps, but once he knelt in front of her, she did her best to hide her interest behind a frown and some angry eyebrows.

When Levi spoke, Challis watched the way his tongue and lips carefully formed the words. It was better than looking into his eyes. "It was…mean of me to say those things to you. About the military."

She squeezed her book tighter. He extended a hand to her. She could see the handle of a small knife at his wrist and a few pink lines dragging through his skin. After a moment, she let him have her own, much smaller hand. The pink lines were raised and smooth to the touch. Challis was distracted for a moment.

"If you really wish to be a soldier, I won't stop you. But," and Levi dipped to catch her gaze. She held it. "I want to help you prepare. Is that okay?"

Challis bit into the side of her cheek. This was new. She had never heard his voice so gentle. "Why?"

Levi tried a smile. It was wriggly on his face. "Because that's what friends do."

She couldn't help it; Challis grinned.

"I knew you were my friend!"

Levi stood, his gear adjusting to the new position with a few quiet _clinks_. The wriggly line on his face was gone when Challis blinked. He was back the way he was—frowny. "First, I want to know what you know. What are some rules you live by in the streets?"

Challis thought hard. It had been a while since she had to think about those things. "Men are usually out to hurt me. Women like to feed me. I can go a few weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Stay in the light. Help others if you can."

Levi scratched the back of his head, and then winced as if someone had pulled out a hair. "Why would you help others?"

"Because what if that was me? I would want someone to help me if I was sick or hungry."

Levi blinked slowly. She thought he knew that. She couldn't pass by someone in need and not help. Old Lady Maggy had always given her what she needed, and she always gave other people what they had needed without thinking about herself. Challis wanted to be like Maggy because Maggy had made her feel safe.

"I want people to know they aren't alone," she said matter-of-factly.

Levi looked back at Finn with a weird expression on his face. Finn shrugged. Challis didn't know why.

Levi licked his lips thoughtfully. "What if someone wants to hurt you? What do you do then?"

"I get you," smiled Challis.

"No. I won't be around. What do you do?"

Challis thought. "I get someone to help me."

Levi huffed. "No, you're alone." Suddenly, he snatched her wrist and started to drag her across the room. "I'm taking you to a dark place. I'm going to hurt you. What do you do?"

Challis clutched at the book, tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, dug her heels into the wood, but nothing stopped Levi. They were almost to the door now. She had no idea what he wanted from her!

"What do you do?" Levi asked again, a little more forcefully. "I'm going to hurt you."

"Levi," Finn said in his warning voice.

Challis felt panic. Her limbs were locked in place, her mind blank. She could only stare helplessly at Levi's hand as he dragged her to the door. Without warning, he let go, and she plopped to the floor on her butt, hard.

"Dead," Levi grunted.

Challis grumbled, "That's not fair, you didn't tell me what to do."

"I'm the bad man, I'm not going to tell you what to do."

"You're mean today," Challis pouted, and Levi's face visibly softened, startling her. Levi's face didn't soften. It hadn't softened since the moment she had seen it. It was always sharp, all angles and narrowed eyes. When he looked like this, like all his angles had been erased, he was so much more handsome. At least, that was what Challis thought in her own mind.

"I only want to prepare you. You want to be a soldier, right? Soldiers know how to protect themselves."

Challis's irritation faded as she thought of the surface. She was certain the military was the way to go. They were the only ones allowed outside the walls, and that's where she had to go in order to find out why the Ti-tans were after them. She didn't have a plan after that, but she would make one once she bought a life above this city.

And Levi was really smart. He would know what she needed to do to become a soldier.

Challis stood, brushed off her backside, and handed the book to Finn. "Okay," she said, determined, and Levi's fingers curled and uncurled at his sides like a wave. "Teach me."

...

_**Another chapter up! I'm really excited for these next few chapters; I have some exciting things planned! Thank you all for your support :) Reviews, critiques, and comments are always appreciated!**_


	8. VII

VII

SIX YEARS OLD

Levi knew the difference between right and wrong. He did.

Right was giving Isabel the fluffier of the three pillows because Farlan and Levi thought she deserved it, in a way. She had taken care of them when they were ill, made tea when Levi was at his most unbearable, shelved Farlan's books when he left too many scattered around, and overall put up with the boys as if they were nothing more than overly dangerous toddlers.

Wrong was severely wounding a man because he had touched Levi with his grimy, sweaty, repulsive fingers. Even though deep down he didn't think there was anything blatantly wrong about his desire to stay clean.

He knew right from wrong because there was a clear line between the two.

What he was doing now…the line was muddled. He couldn't make the distinction between right and wrong. As he waited impatiently at one end of the bar, his foot tapping a staccato beat beneath the sticky tabletop, no matter how hard he tried to focus on the line, it kept slipping away from him like a shadow in a dense fog.

He met Farlan's aloof expression over the heads of oversized men with their tankards, his lean body tipped against the bar. He looked older than what he was, and at first glance anyone coming through the door would think he was just a young man waiting for a drink.

Levi's gaze then slid to Isabel behind the hinges of the door, propped against the wall with her shoulders hunched and eyes on the floor. Levi had no doubt she could hold her own in a fight, given her enemy was no bigger than Farlan.

He had placed them strategically. Farlan would meet him head-on, Isabel would come from behind so she wasn't getting the brunt of the fight. Levi was the most capable out of the three of them, so he was the target. The tiny kid playing man at a table in a back corner.

How his fingers itched for his knife. His knife never allowed his anxiety of a job to dig into the muscles of his body and cause them to twitch. His knife never spoke back on a plan he knew would work no matter how many times his mind played out a bad situation. His knife only did what he demanded of it, what he forced it to do with his own hand, and all he ever asked was for it to cut.

Challis had figured that out ages ago, back when Levi first began her training. And she had come so far. It had only taken her two months to get the hang of wielding a knife, and even less to learn how to aim it. Levi had then gone over all the lethal areas of the body to cut for a quick death, and all those places to cut for a slow one.

Now he was more focused on hand-to-hand combat. More often than not, she would find herself without a weapon, and even if she had a weapon, the situation could change so quickly she would need to know how to protect herself. This was harder for her to grasp. She couldn't figure out which way to twist his wrist or pull his arm, and she didn't have the strength yet to sweep out his leg. Levi stifled the anxiety of it under the metaphorical rug. It was the idea of her knowing what to do that was important. She wasn't old enough to be out on her own yet, so no harm would come to her.

Sid's leering face suddenly destroyed his fantasy of safety for Challis in Levi's mind. That's right. Sid was out to get her. Out to kill her for coin. The training was to ensure Challis could escape when the time came. Levi ground his teeth together, an unfortunate habit he had developed over the past few months.

There was a hammering _bang_ from the front of the room and Levi jerked from his daydream to see Farlan with clenched teeth and a shaking fist against the bar. His wide, staring eyes relaxed a bit as he saw Levi catch sight of the man who had just entered, but he was still on edge. As they all were.

The man was more of a big-ass tree than a man. Tall. Lumbering. _Thick_. His chest was twice the size of a regular man's, and his arms were as thick as Levi's own waist. Levi swallowed. His leg had stopped twitching.

What did this man _eat?_

The giant pushed between two men at the bar and reached over the bartender's head for a bottle of whiskey. There was nothing the poor bartender could do; he took the single copper coin the giant flicked at him and gulped just as Levi had.

"Move," the giant rumbled, and Levi spotted Isabel's flaming hair and Farlan's long limbs blocking the closed door.

"A moment of your time," Farlan cooed. "We have a table for you." He jutted his chin in Levi's direction and the giant's head swung at him. Levi could see the little mouse in his head, skittering around, assessing him and his measly size…and then he saw it take the tiny morsel.

The giant thundered over, his steps heavy and slow, and he collapsed on a chair that wiggled under the sudden stress of his weight. Farlan and Isabel were left forgotten behind him.

"Speak," the giant grunted.

As large as he was, Levi knew the mouse was relatively unintelligent. Fewer words made him sound frightening, but that was all he could string together at a single time. Levi unfolded his arms and flung the slip of paper across the table at him. It stuck to the table like it was coated in honey.

"For you," Levi said bluntly, though his voice had a gentle lilt.

The giant plucked the paper up with two enormous fingers and examined it in the poor lighting. Then his face soured further, like milk curdling before his eyes.

"I never seen this in life," the giant spat. Levi's eye twitched at his terrifically abysmal grammar.

He did his best to put that aside, desperately clinging to his façade of intimidation. "You're lying. Know how I know?"

The giant's frown elongated his face, so he looked more like a massive toad than a man.

"Your right leg jerked, meaning I could feel it through the floor. You're not a very small man, you know."

He held up a hand and caught the weighted jewelry easily, Farlan's toss accurate and quick. The giant's eyes bugged as he smashed a hand to his hip, forcing the appearance of the toad even more as he struggled to realize Farlan had stolen the item without his knowledge, and Levi knew he had only a few seconds more. "We have orders to retrieve this brooch, as it's worth more than your life to our boss. Wasn't hard to find. Wasn't hard to take back."

Levi was prepared for his lunge; he scooted his chair back from the table until it banged against the wall behind him, but he hadn't counted for just how long the giant's arms were. A massive hand wrapped around Levi's throat and gave a firm squeeze.

"Give shiny back," the giant steamed. Each of his teeth had a line of space between them, making his toad-like appearance appear more monstrous now. "Or Boar will rip out throat."

Levi raised an eyebrow. His voice scratched past his teeth, but the adrenaline was quickly replacing the initial fright of his movements. "_That's_ your name? Who named you, yourself?"

A threatening squeeze, and Levi could pick out Isabel's nervous chittering over the rumble of drunken men.

"What did you plan to do with this, anyway?" Levi held up the brooch, its silver frame dull in the lighting of the bar. "You'd be vastly underpaid for this. Because you're such an idiot."

Boar's fingers were sure to leave bruises on his neck and Levi's eyes could pop out at any moment, but Levi wasn't worried. The pent-up frustration of his life was released during jobs like these, against men Levi couldn't possibly beat. For a reason Levi couldn't explain, it made him feel stronger. It sharpened his mind, knowing he could die at that moment, and what harm could come from him spitting in Boar's face other than a little physical pain? His mother had died and left him here in this rat-hole, he was barely scraping by as it was, and the thought of Challis one day becoming Titan fodder ate at him like a parasite in his bones.

In this single moment between Levi and his target, Levi felt invincible.

Levi knew Boar's brute strength would win every time, so he didn't waste his energy trying to push his arm away. Instead, Levi did what he did best. He pulled the knife from his right wrist and slammed it cleanly into Boar's forearm.

Boar bellowed, and as soon as the pressure released from Levi's throat, he kicked to his feet, grabbed the back of Boar's bulbous head, and smashed it into his knee. Boar's full weight toppled onto the table and the twig legs of it snapped loudly. Boar and the rest of the table crashed to the floor in a heap; Levi tiptoed back a step as the giant fell to avoid his boot encountering Boar's gruesome armpit.

"Levi, are you okay?" Isabel gushed. She and Farlan were staring at him with wide eyes, bouncing between his face and what he assumed was the growing violet marks on his neck.

Levi dipped to pull his knife from Boar's arm, wiped the blade on the back of Boar's too-tight shirt, and stepped over him. "I hate people," he grunted, and the three of them left the bar with every pair of eyes in the room on their backs.

...

Levi was back to pondering right from wrong as he shuffled through the thick stack of bills in his hands. Each one lifted another bit of weight from his body, weight that had settled like dust on his young shoulders ever since he had taken Farlan and Isabel under his wing. One more bill meant one more meal, and he wanted as many as he could get.

"This can't be real," Farlan said again, for the umpteenth time. "There's no way. It's crazy. Ridiculous. Absurd."

"Take a breath, Farlan," Isabel muttered. "How much, Levi?"

Levi felt the weight of their stares in his fingers, which had grown sweaty and were sticking to the bills annoyingly as he counted. Eventually, he came to the end of the stack, and his breath stuttered past his lips in bewilderment. "It's enough to buy each of us a pair of gas canisters for our gear."

Mouths dropped open. Gas canisters weren't cheap and were military issued; they were virtually burning cash when they used their gear, but because Levi had gotten so good at stealing them, it was one less thing they had to worry about. For Levi to be holding money equal to three times what those canisters costed was…heavy.

"Why don't we do this more often?" Isabel finally asked.

Levi pocketed the stack of bills, the weight palpable against his leg. They were standing in an alleyway in a tight circle to keep straying eyes from their business. It was safer to hide than to flaunt.

"Technically, we're taking more odd jobs than we have jobs from Sid," pointed out Farlan. "People know what we can do."

"You mean people know Levi," Isabel countered. "Levi does most of the dirty work."

They glanced to him, and Levi folded his arms over his chest with a frown. "I can't do it without you two, so they're kidding themselves if they think I can do it alone."

Isabel grinned.

"We should dump Sid," announced Farlan.

In the past few months, Farlan had grown nearly five centimeters, effectively making Levi the shortest in their group. Levi did his best to keep Isabel between him and Farlan, but when they were in a circle like this, he had no choice but to feel inferior. It drove him up the walls. "We get enough cash through these odd jobs from randoms, and the old lady wanting her brooch back made us enough for a while! It's way more than we ever got with him."

Isabel was about to agree when Levi spat, "You think Sid finding out we're no longer at his mercy is a good thing? You think he's going to let us go so easily?" After a breath of silence, Levi continued. "We play it safe and keep going to him. The extra money can't hurt us. It's going to start getting difficult because my name is getting out to people and Sid has ears everywhere."

"What will we do?" Farlan asked.

"If the time comes when Sid confronts us with it," Levi hissed seriously, "you tell him you had no idea."

"But—"

"If you don't, I'll kill you myself."

They didn't argue with him after that. They understood Levi's silent language, of how a conversation ended and his physical ques of turning his head away with a huff or how he somehow always found something in need of cleaning. He appreciated how they had picked that up, because Levi was dreadful with words.

Later that evening, as soon as Levi walked through Finn's door, a squealing something collided with his belly and toppled him to the ground.

"Levi!" Challis exclaimed, her weight warm on his body and buzzing with energy. "You're finally here, finally, finally!"

"I'm on time, brat," Levi groaned. "Get off me!"

When he stood and brushed himself off with a cloth from his back pocket, Finn chuckled. "I tried to tell her you haven't been late in quite some time, but she was too excited tonight." Finn wandered closer and held out a cup of tea, still steaming, when he paused. "By the walls, Levi, what happened to your neck?"

Levi had nearly forgotten, only remembering when he had been eating bread earlier and the swallowing had caused him a throbbing soreness. He gingerly stroked the skin of his neck, wishing he had worn something more conservative than his round collared long-sleeve.

Challis gasped and put her own hands to her throat in mirrored pain. "Does it hurt?"

"No," said Levi at first, but eventually Challis's worried green eyes pulled out a, "It's a bit sore when I eat, but I'll manage."

"It looks like a really big hand is holding your neck!" Challis pointed out, and Levi wanted to tell her there had been. He kept it to himself, not wanting to frighten her more than he already had. Apparently she hadn't been too worried about him, though, because once Levi had draped his cloak over the back of a cushioned chair, Challis clapped her hands together in a rush.

"Hey, Levi, can we look at your gear tonight?"

Levi started. She typically asked him questions about it randomly throughout the night. How do the fans work? Where do the wires go when they're not out? How often do you have to sharpen the hooks? How many buttons on the handgrips? This was the first time she had ever asked to physically look at them in the little over a year he had been visiting her here.

Levi pondered her question, sipping at the tea Finn had so graciously made from beneath his palm. She had been doing very well in her training lately, and Finn told him when he was gone, she was always reading that book of his, the one about the military and humanity's history. Challis shared Finn's curiosity for maneuver gear, which wasn't a bad one if she was still determined to join the Survey Corps.

Eh, Levi inwardly shrugged. He needed to clean the fan anyway.

"Fine. We're taking apart the fan because shit gets stuck in it and makes maneuvering difficult, so you can help me with that."

Challis threw a fist into the air. "Yay!"

Finn had disappeared; as Levi unhooked the fan from the small of his back and placed it on the table, Finn returned with a dusty metal box that clanked and clattered as he set it on the table. With a flip of the latch, Finn revealed a set of worn tools, ones that Levi knew were tailored for the gear.

"It's been a while," Finn mused as he picked through the wrenches and screwdrivers and pliers. He began to sort out the ones Levi needed for the fan. "I haven't had to use these in…years."

Levi could hear the wistfulness of his tone and wondered what his story was. He had noticed the phrase "by the walls" was a knee-jerk reaction to him, something that wasn't said in the city because there weren't any walls to be seen. Levi guessed he hadn't always lived in the Underground.

"Do you want to help too, Finn?" Challis asked, bouncing in the chair to Levi's right.

Finn shook his head. "It's all yours," he said before pushing his selected tools across the table to Levi and shuffling to his bedroom.

Levi frowned after him.

"Sometimes he gets sad," whispered Challis. Levi saw she had stopped her excited bouncing and was watching the place Finn had disappeared with a hesitant look. "And I don't know what to do."

Levi picked up a small screwdriver and set to work. "Sometimes there's nothing you can do."

Challis continued to watch the doorway as Levi tore pieces apart and unscrewed both propellers from their places. He was pulled back to the day she gave a clean glass of water to a dying woman in the street, and he knew she was concerned for Finn. He also knew a glass of water wouldn't fix this type of sadness. He wasn't even sure a strong whiskey would do it. Levi's heart ached for her, so he poked Challis in the arm with his screwdriver.

"Oi, I thought you wanted to see my gear."

Challis startled, shifting her attention to the metal pieces in front of her. Luckily, her attention caught, and Levi flopped into a chair to watch.

Her little fingers skated over the surface of each screw, nut, and metal piece, as if she were blind and painting a picture of the gear in her mind. She spotted the propellers, caked with dust, dirt, and grime, and then turned to him with a palm out. Levi handed her a clean cloth from his back pocket; she bent over the propellers with concentration. Her tongue peeped out from between her lips as she worked. Levi was certain she would clean it even worse than Isabel, so he mentally prepared himself to reclean it at a later time.

"The book says to wash the propellers every three days, if you use your gear every day," Challis recited, still scrubbing at the metal.

"You think I have time to sit down and take apart my gear every three days?" Levi scoffed. "What do you think I do, laze around all day until I visit you?"

Challis shrugged. "You watch over other kids like me, to make sure they're safe. Right?"

That's right. She thought he was a guardian. Her eyes were so round and so pure Levi wished his soul wasn't so rotten under their light. "Y-Yes," he stumbled, rubbing at the sore skin of his neck. "I make sure the other kids are safe, like you."

"How many other kids do you watch?" she asked, and suddenly she was the six-year-old who asked questions to the point of insanity instead of the false adult fixing maneuver gear he had previously thought she was.

"Three," Levi lied. "All boys. You're the only girl."

"What are they like?"

"Stupid."

Challis giggled. "You're funny!"

Levi felt as if he had one foot in the grave; lying to a child, someone should kill him where he sat. Challis continued to work, the cloth already dirtied from the first propeller blades. At one point, she rinsed the cloth in the sink and returned with it almost clean again, and Levi had to hide his smile behind a hand. Maybe she wouldn't be as bad as Isabel after all.

When she was finished, Levi straightened with screwdriver in hand, but Challis stopped him.

"Can I put it back together, Levi?"

Levi thought. He thought and he thought of a reason to say no. How would she know where everything went, the screws, the pieces? She didn't watch him take it apart. She wouldn't know where to begin. If she put even one screw out of place, he wouldn't be able to lift himself onto a rooftop. But the way she said his name, softly, the letters rolling off her tongue like a gentle rain, the word 'no' had slipped from his vocabulary.

"Okay," Levi said, and handed her the tool.

Challis perked. Slowly, she replaced the propellers, screwing them back into place with tiny hands. Her hair slipped over her shoulder to drench the tabletop in chocolate as she worked. She paid no attention to it. All her focus was on the fan, quietly piecing together the puzzle until, after a couple handful of minutes, Challis sat back with a grin.

"Done!"

Levi took the fan and gave it a shake; nothing clanked or fell apart. There weren't any leftover screws on the table or littering the floor. Carefully, Levi went through the steps to hook it back up to the rest of the maneuver gear. Tubing from the gas canisters to the fan were connected, as were the wires attaching the fan to the handgrips. Challis watched with wide eyes as Levi glanced to her once before firing through the controls on the handgrips like he was reading a novel: rapidly and without thought.

"Did you read about it in that book of yours?" Levi asked her, internally impressed. Nothing had exploded or shot him through the wall. A good sign.

"Uh huh! I did it from memory."

"Memory, eh?" Levi's eyebrows shot up, but he quickly got them back under control. "What was the first thing I ever said to you?"

"You shook your head 'no' when I asked if you were my guardian angel, but in real words you said 'yes, I will be your friend' when I asked if you would be my friend." Challis fiddled with the screwdriver, her legs swinging back and forth beneath the table. "I'm glad you said yes."

Levi swallowed hard, throat bruised and aching. "Why is that?"

Levi wasn't prepared for it, but he had been so prickly with warmth in the last few moments he didn't realize Challis had moved, let alone toward him. When she wrapped her twiggy arms around his waist as best she could and buried her face into the fabric at his stomach, the prickly warmth roared into something that made his fingers and toes numb and his forehead sweat.

"Sometimes I think about being all alone when I buy a life, and it's scary." Challis's hair tangled into loops and knots against his shirt. "My momma died when I was born and Old Lady Maggy died when I was three, so I had no one. But when you said you'd be my friend, it meant I had someone."

Levi was way past his breaking point. The too-closeness of her, the heat of her skin, the way she spoke about her hard past even though she was only six…the only thing holding him on his feet was her arms around his waist, and that strength was thin. When Challis looked up at him with those weirdly iridescent green eyes, Levi's breath stalled and staled in his lungs.

"Levi, will you always be my friend?"

Challis blinked four times before Levi could breathe again. And then it was another three breaths before he could link together two coherent sentences. He brushed hair out of her face and tried his hardest not to look like the Levi who had killed four full-grown men for one child.

"If you ever feel lonely, or sad, or scared, I'm going to be there to protect you. Do you know why?"

Challis shrugged, but Levi could see his few words had a soothing effect. The furrow between her dark brows had eased, and her mouth wasn't pulled so taut.

Levi smushed her head into his belly and wriggled it around. Her giggles were infectious, but Levi hid them behind a smile she couldn't see.

"Because that's what friends do."

...

_**Late again, but I had a nice weekend as a bit of a mid-semester break. I'm hoping I finish the next chapter on time because I'm falling behind due to my packed schedule (as I thought I would). As always, critiques, reviews, and comments are more than welcome!**_


	9. VIII

VIII

SEVEN YEARS OLD

Challis hardly felt the chill of the crisp winter air as she bounced at the front window of Finn's home. He had promised her chocolate when he returned, a treat she hadn't known existed until Levi had complained about it. He had grumbled something about an idiot he knew always having a craving for it and how she bugged him for days on end until he finally caved to her request.

When Challis had asked Finn to get her some, there had been no argument.

"Of course, sweetheart," Finn had replied in that kind, rumbling voice of his. "I'll pick up a bar the next time I go to market. We'll split it, how about that?"

Today was that day. Challis had studiously watched over the week as their bread disappeared, their fruits and vegetables sagged with rot, the tea tin slowly emptied day after day. And finally, this morning Finn had jingled the coin jar as he took out the exact change for the market…plus two silvers extra.

Challis stared hard out the window, keeping watch for a lanky, wrinkled form with a lumpy sack in one arm. He had been gone for forty-nine minutes. Finn had taught her how to read the clock hanging beside the door a few weeks ago, and Challis had been using it for everything now: she timed when Finn woke up in the morning (six-thirty with only a few seconds difference), how long it took Levi's tea to steep (fifteen minutes made him scoff after he drank it, but eighteen earned Finn a satisfied nod), or when Finn sent her to bed each night. That one never changed; she was always sent to bed at eleven-thirty, ten minutes after Levi said goodbye.

Lost in her numbers, Challis didn't notice Finn until he was halfway down the street and she could see the sheen of his glasses catching the streetlights atop his head. Without a second thought, the excitement too much to bear, Challis ripped open the door and raced to meet him.

"Hi sweetheart," Finn greeted, catching her arm to steady her after a minor stumble, "Levi would have a fit if he knew you left the house."

Challis hung on his arm as they continued to the house. "I couldn't help it! Did you get it? Did you find some chocolate?"

Finn's wrinkled face smiled, softening the old lines. "Of course. I told you I would, didn't I?"

Once they were back inside, Finn rummaged through the groceries until he pulled out a square object wrapped in paper. Curiosity was the only thing keeping Challis from bouncing around as Finn carefully unwrapped the square, snapped off a corner, and handed it to her.

It was brown like dirt and solid like the table, and it smelled weird. The piece in her fingers was a perfect square, as if Finn had cut it with a knife.

"Ahh!" Challis shrieked, pulling her fingers from the piece in shock, "what's happening! I'm smudging it! Help, Finn!"

Finn chuckled, taking the piece from her hand and placing it carefully on the table. "You're melting it, sweetheart. If it gets too hot, it will turn to liquid."

Challis frowned. "Is it okay to eat?"

"Absolutely. Just don't hold it for so long."

Challis stared hard at the chocolate piece, willing it not to melt. Then with a quick swipe, she popped the little square into her mouth.

She let out a yip as it began to melt on her tongue, becoming a gooey mess that made her mouth water. It was so sweet it almost hurt her teeth. Before she could decide if she liked it or not, it was gone.

Finn had been watching her with a gentle gaze. "How was it?"

"Weird and sticky and yummy! Finn, you have to try it!"

"Okay, okay. Did you want another piece?"

"Yeah!"

Finn snapped off another chunk. Before he could hand it to her, a loud banging erupted from the door.

Finn paused. Challis mimicked him, eyes on the door. Levi had never knocked in all the times he had visited. This was someone else. And Finn didn't get visitors often.

The banging sounded again. Finn had wrapped up the chocolate and stuck it in Challis's jacket right as the door burst inward, rattling on its hinges. The doorway filled with men, all of them holding some sort of knife and draped in hooded cloaks, with eyes like Levi.

Finn had discreetly moved to block Challis where she sat.

"Good afternoon gentlemen," Finn addressed the room. "May I help you?"

"The girl," the man in front croaked. He was gaunt with dark, stringy locks hanging in his face. His lips were split from lack of water—Challis had seen it many times before when she lived in the streets—and his teeth shone chipped and yellow when he spoke. "We've finally found the bitch."

Finn was cool. "I don't permit that sort of language in my house. I teach my daughter manners."

"Daughter, eh? She looks nothing like you, old man."

Challis took in Finn's angular form and gnarled hands, his yellow-streaked silver hair. She had looked in the mirror many times since living with Finn to know her thick brown hair, soft face, and bright green eyes did not match him. The only feature they shared was a thin stature, but everyone in the city was thin and wasting away.

"She takes more after her mother," Finn replied stiffly. "Unless you are in dire need of medical attention, I'm going to have to ask you to leave at once."

Finn's hand had drifted behind him. Challis took it out of a pure need for reassurance, but Finn flipped her palm down and began to draw over the back of her hand with a rough finger.

"We've been looking for the little shit for two years now," the gaunt man droned. "She's got a delicious price over her pretty head."

"I asked you to watch your tongue," Finn grunted. Challis watched as his finger slowly finished the letter R.

The crowd of men was getting restless. There was muttering and quiet cursing until the gaunt man said, "Did'ya know she's worth a citizenship on the surface?"

Finn sucked in a breath and his finger stalled in the middle of a U. "Y-you've been mistaken…"

"'Fraid not," and the golden, broken teeth were back in a gruesome grin. "She fits the description the boss gave us. Ah, I can almost taste that fresh air!"

Challis knew what the next letter was, but she didn't want to go. She knew if she ran now, Finn wouldn't make it. They would plow him over like an ox and come straight for her. There were so many bad men she couldn't count them all. She was sure there were more outside waiting for her. How could she get them both out safely?

Her eyes slide to the drawer of silverware where the sharp knives were kept. If she could just get over there…

The skin of her hand was pinched hard and she bit back a yelp. Finn met her gaze over his shoulder and with the teeniest shake of his head, said _no_.

_Please_, she mouthed. She had to try. She couldn't leave him like this. She didn't know what these men wanted or why she had to run; all she knew was if she was going, Finn was going too.

"So? You going to hand her over or what?"

Then Finn did something that raised the hairs on Challis's arms. He smiled, and the cruelty in his eyes turned his words to shards of ice.

"'Fraid not."

The gaunt man didn't seem surprised. In fact, he grinned back, unsheathing a wicked dagger from his belt. "Very good."

Challis's mind had gone still. All the idea's bumping around her skull froze in their places and she could do nothing but feel the pain in her chest, in her stomach, pounding down her arms. She was just a child. What could she do?

The room held its collective breath. The only movement came from Finn, who turned to her and squeezed her hand once, hard. Challis blinked up at him with terrified eyes.

This time, Finn's smile was kind. "I love you, sweetheart."

He snatched the back of her shirt, hauled her up by the waistband of her pants, and threw her toward the bedroom. Challis sailed over the table in slow-motion.

Someone was shouting. The band of men shuffled into the house. Finn had that kind smile on his face as he watched her. But when he turned to meet the men, it twisted into something sour.

Challis closed her eyes, stuck in the air as the room erupted. She thought of Finn and his gentle hands. His sweet words, like tiny chunks of chocolate. His eyes that reminded her of books, full of wisdom and stories and worlds. She thought of his kisses at bedtime and his hugs at breakfast. She wished she had hugged him a little tighter this morning.

_I love you too, Finn._

When her eyes opened, she had begun to fall. She whipped out an arm and grabbed hold of a chair, which tumbled over her body as she collapsed onto the floor.

"Get the girl!" someone shouted.

Challis scrambled to her feet, dragging the chair after her and throwing it into the bedroom with all her might. She dove inside and slammed the door shut just as something collided with it on the other side. The knob jiggled, but Challis rammed the chair up underneath it before it could open. Frustrated screams sounded from the other side.

"She's locked the bloody door!"

"She's a child, Barren, how could she have beaten you? Well? Get the damn thing open!"

Challis sucked in air through her nose and let it out her mouth. Calm. She had to stay calm. She backed into a corner, watching the chair wiggle under the force of a body throwing itself into the solid wood.

In…out. In…out.

She successfully locked herself in a room, something Levi would have scolded her for. It would only prolong her death. How was she to escape now?

Her eyes locked on the single window of the room. It was small and decrepit, but big enough for it to be useful. She clambered onto the bed, slipping once and face-planting into the blankets, and grabbed hold of the frame. It refused to move other than a jiggle.

Spotting the lock, Challis flipped it and tried again, grunting with the effort she put into lifting it. No luck.

"Come out, pretty girl," came a cooing from the door. "We don't want to hurt you."

_Bad men always lie,_ she recited, flipping the lock again and shoving at the window.

"Please," Challis whimpered, her chin trembling as she tried the lock a third time. "I have to get out. I have to find Levi."

When the windowpane didn't budge, Challis pressed her forehead against the dirty glass, listening to her heartbeat in her ears. She didn't think about Finn. She didn't think about the door or the men who had begun to hammer on it again. She didn't think about the window and its stupid lock.

_Levi,_ she prayed silently. _I'm alone and scared. You said you'd be there for me. Help me, Levi!_

_..._

The house was cold when Levi woke. His stretch started in his belly and slowly yawned itself through his limbs, forcing his back to arch and his fingers and toes to curl and tremble. He pulled himself into a sitting position, hair tousled, blankets strewn every which way across his body, and felt a shiver raise the hairs along his nape and spine. He couldn't feel his nose.

He sat in the silence of the chilly morning, a grimace already pulling at his once-smooth face. He couldn't decide if the tightness in his body was from the excessive number of jobs lately or if he was anxious. The way his stomach rolled and twisted also confused him; was he worried, or hungry?

For the past few weeks, they had taken over fifteen odd jobs from neighbors and strangers alike, running about the Underground like rats in the sewers. They had an excessive amount of cash now. What would three teenagers do with that much money? Having been in short supply since they were children, it was a bit overwhelming. Levi had been put in charge of keeping it all; the packed jar of bills and coins sat tucked beside his gear box beneath the loose floorboard of his bedroom floor. Safe.

So, it wasn't the anxiety of not having enough to eat.

Levi's mind wandered to Sid. He had given them three jobs, one for each week. The cheap bastard. It was lucky they had so much business outside Sid or they _would_ go hungry.

A thrill of panic propelled itself down his arms. He let it happen. Frowned.

Something was wrong.

Disentangling himself from the blankets, Levi stood with a shiver and dressed, tightened his gear straps, and hooked up his gear. Fear made his hands shake and his jaw tight.

"Good morning, Levi! Happy—where are you going?" Isabel's peppiness disintegrated into worry within seconds as she spotted his grim expression. She was holding something, but Levi took no notice.

"Something's wrong," he said aloud as he laced his boots. "I'm going."

"O-okay," she mumbled. Levi was gone before she could say more.

Most of the time, he felt a short sting of guilt when he left Isabel like that. Alone, wanting to be around him; she had always reminded Levi of a puppy with her constant need for attention. Today he had no room for guilt. A horrible, nauseating panic had soaked into his bones, forcing him to misfire his wires more than once on his trip to District Nine. Almost dropping out of the sky only made his adrenaline spike higher.

_She's fine_, he repeated over and over again. _You're being stupid._

Perched atop the same building as two years ago, when he had killed Mad Dog and his cronies, Levi saw she was indeed _not_ fine.

The house appeared okay on the outside—other than the fact there were two burly thugs standing guard at the door. Even from this distance, Levi knew they were Sid's men. Sid liked to keep the biggest and strongest for his top jobs, jobs that would pay ten times as much as he paid Levi, Farlan, and Isabel.

The thugs standing guard meant there were more of them inside Finn's house, and the longer Levi sat outside the smaller the chance he had of getting Challis out alive.

Swallowing every emotion swirling inside him and locking it away deep in his chest, Levi sprung from the rooftop like a bird taking flight. He soared as silent as a hawk stalking prey, and before either thug had a chance to put up a fight, Levi had landed heels-first into the closest one's head, cracking it against the cobblestone ground with a sickening thud that vibrated Levi's knees. The second thug was lacerated before he opened his mouth, dropping to his knees and slumping forward with blood spurting from wounds in every limb, chest, and throat.

Levi slipped around the edge of the house and peeked in one of the windows on the far side of the main room. He tried to ignore his reflection in the dirtied pane, searing droplets of blood sprayed across his pale skin like a disease.

He caught his breath.

Crimson liquid crawled its way across the floor, seeping from the wound in Finn's lifeless body, catching in the fabric of his shirt. His glazed eyes stared unseeing at Levi. He knew he had been dead long before Levi had showed up, but it still felt as if he had died staring at him, calling out for help. An indescribable rage crackled to life within Levi's ribs, surprising him. He had thought Finn had simply been a guardian to Challis. Nothing more.

Levi shuffled to the next window to get a better view of Sid's thugs. He counted eight of them, too many for Levi to take on alone. He hadn't spotted Challis yet, but his question was answered as a broad-shouldered ox of a man barreled into the single closed door of the house.

She was still alive.

Quickly, Levi crept along the back of the house, keeping below the windows as he went. When he came upon the last window before turning the corner, he stopped and peered inside the darkened room.

His hardened heart melted a little; a forehead was pressed to the glass, a halo of dark hair cascading around fair skin. Her eyes were closed, and she looked to be mouthing something.

_Idiot. Prolonging her death just to mutter to a window._ But Levi felt tension leave his shoulders at the sight of her.

He rapped his knuckles softly against the glass. Jade eyes shot open and his name formed on her lips. Then she made a gesture at the window, wiggling the bottom of the frame then shaking her head.

_It's stuck_.

Levi slammed his knife into the crack between the top and bottom frame, shimmying it left and right until his knife slid smoothly along the line. With a swift yank, the frame shifted and freed itself, and skinny arms burst forth from the house and wound their way around Levi's waist.

He hauled Challis through the window and lifted her into his arms, squeezing her to him roughly. A cascade of _Levi_ and _thank you_ littered his ears and sage invaded his nostrils. They clung to each other as they caught their breaths. Levi trembled.

She was okay. She was safe.

Finally, Levi pulled back. He wordlessly examined her for injury by squeezing limbs and looking for blood, but she appeared fine, only shocked and terrified. Her nose pressed against his neck, cold and sniffling. He knew he needed to get her away from here, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to carry her while using his gear. He had never tried before and he didn't know how the gear would react to the added weight. Did he have enough gas for them both? He was low yesterday and didn't have a chance to refill.

Something smashed inside the house and suddenly the bedroom flooded with men. They locked onto them with wicked speed, moving to the open window with bared teeth and weapons out.

"Who killed the doctor?" Levi bellowed without conscious thought. His sudden outburst stunned them to a stop. They looked between themselves, shrugging.

"I did," said a greasy man from the middle. The sea of men parted, and he grinned yellow, broken teeth at Levi, who shuffled Challis between his arms and promptly raised one of his favorite knives. It had been with him a long time and it almost pained him with his next movement.

"He deserved more than death by a rat like you," Levi spat, and flicked his wrist. He caught a glimpse of the knife sticking gruesomely out of one eye before he abandoned his previous concerns and launched them both into the air.

Screams followed him. Challis continued to cling to him, her hair tangling behind them and catching in Levi's mouth as they rocketed over the rooftops. He knew they couldn't go home directly; he had stolen those bastards' only chance at citizenship on the surface. They wouldn't give up that easily. Unfortunately, he could already feel the sputtering of the fan as the gas canisters emptied and he knew he was at the end of them. The only solution he could come up with was to hide.

Levi huffed into Challis's ear, straining to keep them above the streets. "I need you to tell me how close they are. Oi," he prompted when he got no response, "we don't have much time. Help me, brat."

He wasn't sure if it was his tone or the fact she could feel them descending without Levi's doing, but whatever it was, she lifted her head.

"They're fifty meters behind us but coming fast." Her words tore from her mouth as soon as she uttered them, but Levi heard her.

"Good enough," Levi grunted, and dropped them into an alley.

Challis made no noise, but Levi knew he had startled her. Her eyes were wide and her fingers dug into his shoulders like needles. He put her on the ground and she promptly grabbed his hand, her arm shaking.

Levi pulled her across the street to the Dark Horse, a pub he frequented a lot for jobs. It was the only thing he could think of in the moment and he hoped he hadn't made a grave mistake.

When he entered, there was only a handful of people inside. He forgot it was still early morning and most of the rambunctious crowd wasn't around to confuse their pursuers. Challis glanced around nervously, rummaging in the pocket of her jacket as she chewed her lower lip.

"Levi! Yer early, son." The bartender, Samuel, eyed him through squinty eyes. Half his teeth had fallen out just because he was so old, but he was still a rather fiery person. He shuffled toward them with a rag tossed over one shoulder and stains spotting his wrinkled shirt.

"Got a back room?" Levi asked after a glance to a half-awake woman who bobbed her head into her drink.

Samuel leaned forward to examine Challis attached to his arm. Levi slid defensively into his view. "Need tuh disappear, ay?" he grumbled as his gaze returned to Levi.

"Quickly."

Samuel gestured for them to come behind the bar. "Don't got a room, but yeh can sit there." He pointed with a gnarled finger at an empty space between shelves of dusty glasses and a box of empty liquor bottles, just large enough for the two of them to squish into. Levi curled in first and pulled Challis into his lap. Her legs barely stuck out from their hiding place, but Levi hoped it wouldn't matter. There was nothing he could do about it.

As they settled into place, Levi's ears perked at the commotion outside. Samuel scrubbed at his bar top, one of the things he treasured most in his pub and paid them no mind. Challis squirmed, tense.

The door rattled open. It was torturous not being able to see his enemies, to count their bodies and calculate movements. If anything happened, it would happen quickly. Levi gingerly pulled out his last knife, squeezing it in his palm as reassurance while Challis stared at the blade with pursed lips.

"You seen a short angry kid with a girl come around here?"

"I ain't seen nothing," Samuel whistled unintentionally to the thug, the gaps in his teeth causing air to sing when he spoke.

The bar was smacked with a massive arm. "You're lying, geezer. Where are they?"

Samuel stood as straight as his crooked spine allowed and glowered. "Yeh think two kids would come into my pub? It's not noon yet. And what would my clientele think if I were serving kids booze?"

The thug's voice was mocking. "You're right, geezer. What _would_ these alcoholics think if you started serving children? Except I'm not talking about serving children alcohol. I'm talking about hiding them from us. Search the place, boys. I'm not taking any chances."

...

**_Hi! Life happened this past week or so and I wasn't able to upload on time. I hope this makes up for it. This was a very fun chapter to write, so I hope you have fun reading it! Thanks for your support. Reviews, critiques, and comments are always welcome!_**


	10. IX

IX

SEVEN YEARS OLD

Challis's breathing had escalated to heaving at the sounds of chairs scarping the floor and storage doors slamming shut. Levi put his free hand over her mouth, the other clutching his last knife with white knuckles.

This was it. This was where they were found, and this was where they would die.

_No_, an inner voice commanded. _Accepting death is just as cowardice as waiting for it to arrive._

Levi was sure it wasn't his own voice but something from his childhood slipping into the present. Even if it _was _his voice, he knew it was right. He couldn't sit here and let them be found.

Samuel had shifted so he was partially blocking their hiding place. They didn't know each other well, but at least Levi could depend on him when he needed it. Challis stared wide-eyed at the old man's knees. She was probably so overwhelmed her brain had shutdown. There was too much going on for her little body to handle.

Levi took her hand and curled its fingers over the knife's handle. Her frightened gaze landed on him, boring holes into his head.

"Just as I showed you," Levi mouthed.

After a moment, she nodded. Something had clicked into place in her mind, creating order out of disorder, and her breathing quieted. Levi could see her pulse bounding in her throat, the only indication of how she truly felt. The blade trembled between them.

_Am I making the right choice?_

Levi reached for the empty bottles beside him, pulling out three of decent size. There were only two ways for this to end, he thought. One of them ended in success; those odds would have to do.

Levi patted Samuel's leg and he shuffled minutely to the right. The thugs continued to disrupt the pub, growing rowdy and boisterous with each passing second. The few customers littering the pub had grown mouthy; a few of them had yelled obscenities at the thugs already. Levi had to guess there were three of them. Maybe more but no less.

"Levi," the nervousness in Challis's whisper was palpable. "I'm scared."

Then Levi did something he had never done in all his fifteen—no, sixteen—years of life. He wasn't sure if it would help at all or even if he did it right, but he smushed his lips to Challis's forehead in a hurried but hopefully comforting kiss. He looked her in the eyes, focusing all his energy on keeping his voice gentle.

"There's no need. I'm right here."

Challis swallowed once.

"Ready?"

She didn't flinch as a box of something that sounded like glass was thrown against the wall. She only gripped the knife tighter, the thugs' frustrated screaming causing only Samuel to react with a fist pounding his bar.

At the first twitch of Levi's muscles, Challis was on her feet, Levi a deadly shadow behind her. Immediately, he counted four thugs, one that had a combined weight of both of them. The closest one startled at their sudden appearance and opened his mouth to alert the others, but Levi chucked a bottle at his face; his warning exploded into screams.

One.

"Don't think!" Levi cried as he flung himself over the bar, narrowly missing kicking Samuel in the ribs. He faced the three stumbling around the tables and chairs, his face a blank mask, his chest a swirling muddle of emotions. He hoped wounding the first thug would set him on Challis's level. She had never done this before, had never been in a real fight, and he severely doubted she was ready. Three thugs—one twice his size—were even a bit much from him, but he had to do it. Challis's life was at stake.

The first thug stepped forward and Levi swung a bottle at his head. It stunned him enough that Levi could thrust the sharp and broken edges into his stomach and twist the bottleneck until he shrieked. Levi kicked him in the chest with his heel; the man toppled onto a table, clutching his bleeding abdomen, and startled a drunk sitting nearby. The drunk poured the rest of his beer in the thug's face.

Two.

The last two thugs advanced with eerie grins. Levi clutched his last liquor bottle, running through scenario after scenario, always coming up short. He should've grabbed another, he thought frustratedly. Three would have been too easy. He should have planned for four.

Levi swung his last bottle at the heaviest thug, but he miscalculated how fast he could move. The man ducked, popped Levi in the ribs—his breath left his lungs in an audible _oof_—and landed a punch to his nose. Warm blood burst down Levi's face and his eyes were bleary with tears. He wiped at them frantically with a sleeve but even through the tears he could tell he was only smearing blood on his shirt. The thug took hold of his collar and drew back for another punch as frustration pulsed through him in time with his nose. He was useless like this! At this rate…

His thoughts were cut short as a blurry something sailed between them and lodged in the side of the thug's neck. His eyes were wide, shocked that he hadn't seen it coming, and he slumped to the floor in a pool of his own blood. Levi whipped around, his eyes finally beginning to clear.

"Well?" Challis cried, flinging a dripping, crimson hand at the last remaining enemy. "Are you going to kill him?"

The room froze, but only for a moment. The thug leaped forward with arms outstretched. Levi elbowed him square in the jaw, smashing the last bottle on his head for good measure. He collapsed half on the heavy thug and half on Levi's boots, earning him an extra kick to the groin.

The pub's silence was deafening. Levi's heart threatened to burst from his chest, and he gripped the edge of the bar to steady himself. He was still dripping blood; he swiped his other sleeve over his mouth just to clear away some of the copper taste. His ribs ached. Maybe he'd cracked one.

Challis hopped child-like over the groaning thug at Levi's feet and retrieved the knife from the massive thug's neck. Levi watched her in a daze as she frowned at the bloody blade, glanced down to the dead man beside her, and wipe it clean on the back of his shirt. She was also covered in blood, Levi noticed, and his heart ached with his other injuries. Challis flipped the knife in the air, catching it deftly blade-first, and extended the handle to Levi with a blank expression.

"We should leave," she said. "The ones who aren't dead will wake up soon."

Levi took the knife and her bloodied hand. It slipped around his palm, warm and sticky. Samuel cursed them for dirtying up his pub, but they were already disappearing into the shadows.

...

They were three streets from the house, and it had taken them forty-five minutes when it should have taken them fifteen. Levi wanted to be certain they weren't being followed. Even if they were, he didn't think they would last another fight like that. Maybe stumbling into the house and having Farlan and Isabel as backup wouldn't be such a bad idea.

He still couldn't believe it, how they'd escaped. His throbbing face let him know it had happened, though. His skin felt tight since the blood had dried over his lips and chin, staining his shirt in several places, to the point that he probably looked like he'd just murdered someone.

Well, it wasn't _technically_ a lie.

It hurt to breathe, too, and he was sure there was a cracked rib somewhere. Levi tried not to show his pain. It would only freak Challis out more.

Damn, how had it gotten this messy?

He glanced to Challis and his eyes caught the glisten of fresh blood dripping from her fingertips.

"Are you hurt?" he rasped. Somehow his voice had grown weak. He loathed that fact.

"Huh?" Challis looked up at him. She seemed alert. Focused. "Oh, this? The first man I killed cut my arm with a piece of glass. It doesn't hurt though. I'm okay."

Shock, Levi concluded. She was in shock. A powerful drug the body produced, one to protect itself from the pain and terrible memories. He forced himself to remain calm.

"We're almost home. Hang on."

Along with all the other pain in his body, his stomach began to wrench itself in knots. This was the moment he had dreaded for two years—the moment when Farlan and Isabel found out. What would they think of him? Levi's eyes rested on Challis's blood-spattered face. Her sweet face, with sweeping lashes and bright eyes, with naturally pouty lips and straight nose. She was so…precious. He would do anything for her. He could admit that, at least to his own mind.

But what would _they_ think of her?

There was nowhere else for Challis to hide, so he supposed it wouldn't matter what they thought. She would stay where she was safest: with Levi.

They stopped at the mouth of a familiar alley, one that Levi had used too many times to count. The bricks had begun to crumble above them from his wire hooks. They were so close to home, yet Levi still checked the streets before they left the safety of the alley. He tugged Challis after him, gingerly now because of her injury, and tapped up the steps to the door.

_Easy_, Levi breathed inwardly, and pushed into the house.

The main room was empty. No one lounged on the couch or read at the table or scrounged for food in the kitchen. But it didn't take long.

"_Levi!_" Isabel ran into view, eyes wide, and froze. Levi saw her take in the blood stains, the pain etched in his face, and then Challis at his side, still clutching his hand. She was beginning to wake from her shocked stupor; her teeth were gritted, and she was clenching and unclenching the fist of her injured arm.

"Get me clean cloth and the alcohol."

"A-Aye." Isabel fluttered to the bathroom.

Kicking off his boots, Levi knelt in front of Challis, who yanked off her own shoes after watching him.

"Take off your jacket," Levi instructed as Isabel returned with the supplies.

As she followed his orders, Challis sucked in a breath. "It stings," she mumbled.

Levi bit his lip as he examined the wound. It wasn't as deep as he feared, but it was oozing with blood and other things, and long, stretching from her shoulder past her elbow. He took her hand and reached for the alcohol with a sweaty palm.

"This is going to sting a lot worse," Levi warned her. "I have to do it."

"Why?"

"Kills the bad stuff in your wound."

Challis turned her head away.

Levi swallowed hard. He'd never intentionally hurt her before.

_It's for her own good._

Levi poured the liquid over her gash. Her response was instant. She grunted something close to a squeal and squeezed his fingers so tightly he was actually in pain. Then, after a moment, she relaxed.

"That's it?"

Levi set the bottle down and unfolded a couple cloths. "That's it."

Challis returned her gaze to the wound, examining it like she might examine a bug on the wall. Levi cleaned away the excess blood delicately before taking a clean cloth and wrapping it tightly over the gash, tying it neatly on the outside of her arm. He had to use three large cloths to cover her entire wound, but eventually it was bandaged.

"How does it feel?" Levi asked lowly.

Challis flexed her skinny arm. "Sore."

"Will be for a while. Try not to move it much."

He reached to pick up the soiled cloths and the alcohol when Challis looped her good arm around his neck. "Thanks, Levi."

Levi let himself be hugged for a moment, to give him the strength to face Isabel. She had watched their interaction with curious interest, and now that Challis had been taken care of, Levi sensed her curiosity hit him like a suds-bubble bursting.

"You're bringing in rascals off the street now?" Isabel blinked. "And what's with the bloody nose? You look like you ripped someone apart."

"Do you need the ouchy-water too?" Challis asked from his side.

"Where's Farlan?" averted Levi. He didn't want to have to explain this twice.

Farlan suddenly appeared at the doorway of his bedroom, a book in his grasp. "I was summoned?" He raised an eyebrow. "Maria, you look like shit."

Levi glared at him.

"Another fight we're not supposed to know about?"

He was purposely being an ass, which Levi probably deserved, but right now he didn't have the patience to deal with it. His ribs were killing him, and he had to assess his nose to see if it was broken or swollen. And the overall discomfort of the situation might kill him where he stood. He huffed as he met each of their eyes in turn, all with varying levels of concern.

"You know that…thing I've been doing every night?"

Farlan didn't look surprised in the least. He simply shoved a hand into his pocket and sighed. Isabel, on the other hand, scrunched her face in confusion.

"Aye?"

Levi clenched his teeth in visual frustration and awkwardness. Then, with an odd flick of his hand, he motioned to Challis.

Isabel stared between the two of them, her eyes resting longer on Challis than Levi. Something finally clicked in her head and she reared back.

"Wait—this is—she's—you've been—"

"Words, Isabel," Farlan rolled his eyes.

Isabel took a breath and rounded on Levi. "You've been sneaking off to hang out with a _child_?"

"I'm not 'hanging out' with her," Levi responded, anger flaring. "I'm teaching her how to be a soldier."

"Oh, like _you_ know how to be a soldier!" scoffed Isabel.

"She says she wants to join the Survey Corps, I can't just let her do it without proper training—"

"They train their soldiers up there!" Isabel shrieked, gesturing to the ceiling. "How will she even get to the surface? Eh? We've been saving for years and look how far we've come. You don't plan on splitting the money between four of us, do you?"

Challis's voice was a gentle wisp compared to Isabel's fire, a soft flower struggling to grow in the heat of summer. "I have a necklace from my momma. I'll buy my own life."

The look Isabel shot her was pure loathing. "Adults are talking," she snapped.

Levi moved on instinct. He flew to Isabel, centimeters from her nose, her breath hot on his cheeks, and the rage pumping through him flung his chest into hers so she stumbled back a step. In the back of his mind he thought he must look murderous with his blood stains and blackening eyes.

"Don't _ever_ speak to her like that again."

Isabel flinched but Levi refused to back down.

After a moment, Isabel stepped back, crossed her arms. She seemed to deflate where she stood, like lungs without air. "Where did you even find her?"

"District Eight. The day Sid almost killed you." Levi was still bristling, a wolf protecting his cub. This felt wrong, fighting with Isabel. It wasn't as if they had never fought before—they had butted heads more times than he could remember—but he felt like he was on an island between two stretches of land. One held Farlan and Isabel and their chance at freedom, and the other held Challis and her dream of researching Titans. Which one did he swim to? How could he possibly choose?

Isabel frowned. "And you just, snatched her from the street?"

Farlan wandered over from his bedroom, his eyes carefully neutral on Challis. "No. He observed her first. Then he found out she had a bounty on her head." Farlan's gaze slid to Levi's. Calculating. Heavy. "You wanted the bounty."

"No!" Levi felt nauseous.

"What's a 'bounty,' Levi?" Challis asked innocently. All eyes fell on her.

"Compensation for a person who's wanted," Farlan answered before Levi could come up with something. "Our boss wants you dead. If we deliver your body to him, we get to live on the surface."

Challis staring unblinking up at him, then Isabel and her vicious glare, and finally coming to rest on Levi. Her chin trembled only slightly.

"Are you going to kill me, Levi?"

"No," Levi repeated, firmly. Maybe too firmly, because Challis shuffled away, toward the door, and something deep inside him started to pinch painfully. He crouched in front of her again, still gripping the cloths and alcohol, still wearing his stained shirt, and grunted in pain from his ribs. He tried to make his frightening appearance look how he felt about her: kind and caring, emotions that didn't normally sit comfortably on his face or in his stature. It was difficult with blood everywhere. "I'm your friend. I would never hurt you. We escaped from the people who want to kill you, didn't we?"

"But what if you wanted the bounty for yourself?" Challis's back was flush against the door, and suddenly Levi was seeing the child she was. How he kept forgetting she was merely a child, he didn't know. She was terrified, hurt, and exhausted. She had seen so much in a matter of hours. Levi's chest was caving in on itself. If he didn't stop her from contorting her face like that, like she was a distraught kitten caught in the rain, he would surely suffocate.

He tried to get out the words to tell her the thought had never once crossed his mind, but the door burst inward, and Challis flew to the ground in a heap of limbs. Levi scrambled to pull her away from the door, but she was too quick; she rolled to her feet and put the three of them between her and the now-open doorway.

Levi whipped to face the intruder and found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol.

"Nobody move! It's loaded and I'll pull it at the first sign of struggle!"

The pistol wasn't actually a pistol, now that Levi was staring directly at it. It was a smoke-shooter, one that was found on soldiers. It shot rounds of different colored smoke into the air as signals, and the Survey Corps like to use them to keep track of their ranks outside the walls; the Military Police held them too, but it was more for show than for use. Now that the shock of having a gun pointed in his face had passed, Levi followed the barrel with his eyes and found a scruffy young kid at the opposite end, dark hair, dark eyes, loose clothing that appeared to not have been washed in weeks. Levi sighed heavily, which only made the kid scream louder.

"I said, don't move!"

"I didn't move, stupid brat, I can't stay perfectly still with that garbage pointed at me."

The kid's hand had started shaking, probably from holding the weapon up to aim at Levi's chest. Levi wasn't tall by any stretch of the imagination, and the kid was shorter. "Hand over the girl or I'll kill you!"

Levi had reached the end of his short fuse of patience. "Who the hell are you?"

"Aye, and why are you stupid enough to enter Levi's house?" Isabel spat.

At the mention of his name, the kid blinked. "I-I've come for the girl, as I said! So…hand her over!"

"Stop shouting," Levi ground out, "or I'll give you something to shout about."

The smoke-shooter was wavering now and the kid didn't look so sure of himself. With the tip of his tongue pushed out, he cocked back the hammer with both thumbs. "I'm not messing around, Levi."

"Stop!"

Levi was bumped off-balance as Challis rushed forward, slipping between him and the end of the smoke-shooter. Her heavy brown hair swayed as she moved, and she threw up both arms with a grimace and a plea.

"Please don't shoot him, he saved me!"

The kid, now subconsciously pointing the smoke-shooter at Challis, frowned. "But I saw him dragging you through the streets. I saw him take you from the Dark Horse."

Levi felt annoyance and embarrassment as he realized the kid had followed them to the house without his knowledge. The fight must have taken more energy out of him than he realized. Stupid brat.

Challis shook her head and hands in unison, her entire body tense. "There were bad men after me. They want to kill me and I don't know why. But Levi killed them and saved me. If you shoot him, I'm going to have to kill you," she added softly, and a thrill of alarm ran down Levi's spine.

What had he created?

The kid pondered her words, physically sizing her up as his eyes scanned her from head to toe. Then, he dropped the smoke-shooter to his side.

"You'd kill me to save him? A thug?"

Quicker than Levi could blink, Challis disarmed the kid, swept a leg out from under him, and slammed him to the wood floor. She tossed the smoke-shooter in Levi's direction with a glance at him. He had to drop the soiled cloths to catch it.

"You might see him that way, but he's my friend. He's a good person. And that gun isn't a real gun, stupid head."

Levi's entire body was tingling along with the continuous, piercing pain of his injuries. She thought he was a good person? After everything he'd put her through…and she still saw something in him he wasn't able to see. Stunned, his brain couldn't remember how to string words into sentences, so he stood there with his lips parted in startled silence.

"I took it off a passed-out MP soldier in the street. How can it not be a real gun?" the kid huffed. He hadn't made any movement since Challis had dropped him, and his desire to kill everyone to save her had vanished like a puff of smoke. He was interested in her, and she appeared interested in him.

Challis extended a hand and helped him to his feet. The kid was taller than her by nearly a head, but he was still just as scrawny. "It fires smoke rounds forty-five meters into the air and is used for signaling to far away groups of soldiers," Challis spit out, sounding like something out of Farlan's books. "It doesn't shoot bullets!"

The kid mulled over the information. "Then why did you all act like it could've hurt you?"

"It could have," Levi griped, unloading the smoke round with a flick of his thumb. It clattered to the wood floor like lead, and Levi tossed the empty pistol at the couch. "Firing a round forty-five meters takes a lot of power. You would've blown a hole straight through me."

A mischievous grin split the kid's face, his dark eyes appearing inky black. "I see."

"What's your name?" Challis asked, deeming him an acceptable person to have a conversation with. Levi wanted to pound the little snot.

"Jack Sharp," the kid announced. "I gave myself my last name."

Challis nodded. "I like it! I'm Challis."

The two children shook hands as if to confirm their acquaintanceship and turned to the rest of the group. Levi was numb now, his nerves completely frayed from the day. And it wasn't even noon.

Farlan voiced what the three teens had been thinking: "What the hell just happened?"

"Jack is my friend now," Challis answered. "And he can stay with us."

"Whoa, hold it, little girl," Isabel started.

"Challis," Challis repeated cheerfully.

Steam began to seep from Isabel's ears. "_Challis_. What makes you think either of you are staying here?"

"She's staying," stated Levi with no room to argue. He snatched up the soiled cloths again, making his way to the kitchen sink.

Isabel made a snorting sort of noise. "And Jack?"

Levi turned back to Challis, who met him with a pure, wide-eyed expression. When he returned to the sink and flipped on the faucet, flushing the cloths with rusty water, he felt a thin thread of annoyance tighten in his chest. "He stays, too."

The room grew tense with Isabel's rage. Levi could feel her eyes on the back of his head like she was poking him with her finger. He wondered vaguely what Farlan thought about all of this, but they had known each other long enough that Farlan knew he wouldn't be able to sway Levi's decision. He refused to have a fight when it was unnecessary.

"You think he wants to stay?" grumbled Isabel.

Jack's voice floated through the room. "I've got nowhere else to go. And if Levi's here, it's probably the safest place to be in the city."

Levi would never agree with him out loud.

Isabel was getting fed up. She stomped to the kitchen where she shoved her presence in Levi's face, and he had no choice but to meet her with a stiff jaw and narrowed eyes.

Isabel snapped. "Now that you're sixteen, you think you can make all the rules, eh?"

Levi, glaring hard at Isabel—who glared right back—chewed his tongue. Levi had never been one for celebrating, especially an event for himself. He hated when this time of year rolled around because Isabel always wanted to treat him. It was sweet of her, but being the center of attention, receiving gifts, had never been his strong suit. It was why he hadn't told anyone outside the three of them.

And they both knew she had purposely called him out. If she could make him uncomfortable, there was a slim possibility she could win. Levi would drop the subject and escape to his room and Isabel would get her way with whatever it was they had been fighting about.

What Isabel didn't know was Levi would always win this argument.

So instead of being uncomfortable, Levi's anger drowned everything else out. He wanted to scream at her that there was nothing else he could do, he was just as frustrated as she was, and he wanted to strangle Farlan for getting it in Challis's head that he had only kept her for his own selfish reasons. He wished he had had the courage to face them before something like this happened, but he had been terrified of exactly this situation.

"It's your birthday, Levi?"

Levi caught her little bounce from the corner of his eye. Sometimes Challis's intelligence still startled him. "Yes," he dragged out.

"I have chocolate!"

Isabel's attention diverted enough that Levi finished scrubbing one of the cloths with quick movements, then he faced Challis with a raised eyebrow and wet hands. "How did you get that?"

She was holding the wrapped package toward him with a grin, but it slipped from her face as fluid as water. "F-Finn bought it for me."

The air in Levi's lungs staled as Isabel stiffened beside him. He'd forgotten Finn's promise, had forgotten that was a sore subject to begin with. It had been such a long morning.

The pallor of Challis's cheeks was reddening as she stared at the chocolate in her hands. Jack shuffled back a step, probably sensing what was about to happen and wasn't sure how to cope with it, and then globs of tears sprung from Challis's bright green eyes.

The only noise she made was sniffling, tough in the presence of others, but Levi knew she was sobbing. Her little face scrunched as she ducked her chin into her chest and covered her eyes with her good arm to hide from the rest of them. Her shoulders racked with her sobs, and Levi felt the pain as if it was his own.

This poor child, he thought miserably. Did she see them kill him?

Jack was poised to hug her, but he was hesitant, his arms extended between them. The kid didn't even know Challis, yet he felt he needed to do something, and it was a point Levi could agree on. It was such a strange sensation, but it was one that had pulled Levi into Challis's life without his acceptance. Farlan and Isabel only watched with a knowing expression, face taut, mouth pursed to a thin line. They had all lost someone dear to them at some point in their young lives.

Unable to stand it any longer, Levi crossed the room and swept Challis up into his arms, despite the shattering pain in his ribs, despite the blood still coating both their clothes and skin, despite how wet with tears and snot Challis's face was. She burrowed into his neck, sweaty and warm, and clutched the chocolate to her chest like she could meld it into her heart. Without a word, Levi took her to his bedroom so she could mourn in peace and decided the squabble with Isabel could wait a few more hours.

...

_**Hi! This chapter was very fun to write. The characters kind of did their own thing and I scrambled to write it all down. I hope you enjoy! As always, reviews, critiques, and comments are appreciated and welcomed!**_


	11. X

X

SEVEN YEARS OLD

Challis woke up sweaty. Not the uncomfortable kind of soaked sweaty she had been when she was sick, the hot kind of sweaty after crying for too long. The dry kind of sweaty with a sore throat and raw eyes.

She kicked off the thick blanket that had been thrown over her small frame and sat up. Levi was hunched in a chair beside the bed, close enough Challis could brush his knee if she wanted. His arms were folded neatly over his chest and his head hung forward, his ebony bangs hiding his exhausted face only a little bit.

Challis had never seen Levi sleep. She didn't even know he did. She thought he stayed awake all the time, judging from the violet rings clinging to his eyes, so it was a strange sight to see him so relaxed and not grumpy. Challis squinted through the shadows to spot a thin line beneath his nose, evidence his mouth wasn't always etched into a frown. Dark speckles covered his skin and drenched his shirt, and then she was quietly scooting off the bed and slipping into the main room of the house.

Jack sat cross-legged on the couch with a book in his lap. Challis assumed it was still very early, since the house was so silent, and she padded barefoot over to the boy and flopped beside him.

"You're up early," was all he said, flipping a page filled with text. Challis scanned the words with stinging eyes and guessed he was reading about the surface.

"You're up earlier than me."

"I don't sleep much," Jack sighed. It wasn't a tired sigh. More like a bored sigh. "I take naps when I need to. Don't you?"

Challis shook her head. "I always had a place to stay during the night. Back when I was living by myself."

Jack eyed her suspiciously. "You had a house?"

"I stayed with women who let me. I wonder if they know I'm okay," she added as an afterthought.

"Probably assumed you're dead."

Challis stared at the page in Jack's lap. She didn't want them to worry. It had been so long since she'd seen any of them. Years. How could she even go about doing that, letting them know she was safe? Levi refused to let her wander off by herself anymore. And after what happened yesterday, she didn't particularly want to.

"It's better for them. One less mouth to feed."

Challis blinked up at Jack, who flipped another page, though his eyes weren't moving. She settled in beside him after a moment.

This boy was okay, she supposed.

After a few quiet minutes, Challis asked, "What's it about?"

Jack shrugged. "I think it's about agriculture on the surface. You know, growing plants for food."

Challis frowned. "Plants as food?"

"What, you think onions and potatoes just pop into existence?"

"Well, I don't know, I've never had to think about that before."

Jack snorted. "A privileged life, down in the Underground."

Challis sat up, her curiosity yawning awake inside her. "Where'd you get that book? Was it Farlan?"

"The tall guy with the dopey haircut? No, I found it over there, on the bookshelf."

Jack gestured with his head to the corner near Levi's bedroom. A simple bookshelf stood chest-high and was packed with books; Challis could see where Jack had taken his from, the empty space off to one side of the middle shelf. She crouched before the books and scanned the titles, reaching for one that said MILITARY WEAPONRY in blocky black lettering. When she returned to her spot beside Jack, he frowned.

"What do you know about military weaponry?" he scoffed.

"Lots of things." Challis flipped to the index and scanned the chapters. "I knew about your smoke-shooter."

Jack puffed air out his nose in response and returned to reading.

It was difficult to hold the book in her hands because the bandages on her arm were stiff with dried blood and other yellow-ish stuff. A little frustrated, Challis flexed her arm against the stiffness—and immediately squeaked in pain. A few places along her wound began to sting terribly, and fresh blood brightened the dried dark stains.

"You should change that," Jack said. "It could get infected."

"What's 'infected?'"

Jack sighed and shoved his book onto the cushions beside him, reaching to undo the first knot of bandages. "It means you could lose an arm if you don't keep it clean. You say you know so much about military weaponry, but you don't even know what could kill you without any weapons at all."

Challis let him fumble with the knots. He was much rougher than Levi had been, but she sat through it all until her wound was exposed to the air. She examined it with unblinking eyes. She had never seen the inside of her skin before. It looked much like the outside, at least from what she could see through all the blood and yellow stuff.

"Gross," Jack said, scrunching up his nose. "Let me get a rag."

Challis caught his arm. "Levi doesn't like things dirty."

Jack stared at her.

"I don't know where he keeps his clean rags."

Still, Jack stared.

Challis flopped back into the couch. "Let's just wait for Levi, okay?"

After an annoyed huff, Jack brought his book back into his lap. "Fine, whatever."

Challis tried to ignore the burning of her arm as she skipped to the chapter about omni-directional hand controllers. Omni-directional. It was much easier to say 'ommy-maneuver gear' rather than the entire phrase, but she had to get used to it if she was to be a Survey Corps soldier. They would laugh at her if she said things like that.

The controls, though simple when observing someone do it, were much more complex. There were levers and buttons and all sorts of combinations that could send a person flying into a wall if they didn't know what they were doing. Would they teach her how to use the gear when she got to the surface? Maybe she should have Levi teach her instead…

Challis didn't know how long it had been since she'd sat reading at Jack's side, but then the door across the room jiggled and swung open silently, admitting a groggy Levi to the living space. Challis's stomach twirled and swooped uncomfortably as she examined his face in the light. It looked like someone had dumped ugly, violet and scarlet paint all over his skin and clothes. His eyes were bruised and dark, making his silver eyes bright in the centers, and his nose was swollen with angry bursts of red splattering his lips and chin and neck. She caught his eyes leap to her once before he shuffled to the sink with a pained grimace and began to fill a teapot with water.

As she continued to stare, the twirling, swooping of her stomach stretched into prickles and thorns. It was _her_ fault Levi was hurting. Even the way he stood gave away his agony. What could she do to make him feel better? He had helped her with her injury—which throbbed a reminder down to her fingertips that it was still there. Maybe she could find the ouchy-water for him. Where had he put it?

Challis startled as Levi turned to face her, and the prickly feeling returned immediately. Not sure what to do, she waved at him across the room, a nervous smile pulling her lips into a wriggly line.

Levi's blood-crusted lips parted. He didn't smile, but his gaze softened like melted chocolate, dampening the prickles inside Challis with oozing warmth. He gave a little wiggle of his fingers, which stayed near his belt almost bashfully, before hobbling to the toilet room. The sound of rushing bathwater met Challis's ears and she blinked. He hadn't cleaned himself since yesterday.

"I still can't believe you were willing to get shot for that psychopath."

Challis was quick enough to catch Jack's rolling eyes. "He's not a psychopath," she said defiantly, even though she had no idea what a 'psychopath' was.

"My sister said he's killed over fifty men. And he's only sixteen!" Jack stared wide-eyed at her, his body tense on the cushions. "You're treating him like he's a harmless puppy."

Challis pinched Jack's arm harder than she meant to, and he yelped and smacked her away. "So what? He saved me from living on the streets. And I'm sure he's only killed when he needed to."

"Yeah right," Jack scoffed. "The greatest thug in the Underground kills people only in self-defense."

"I killed two men in self-defense, so it's possible, meanie-head!"

Jack dug his heels into the cushion and slammed backward into the arm of the couch. "Y-you what?"

Challis chewed her tongue. She hadn't thought about it since it had happened, and maybe she hadn't wanted to, either. She didn't know what it meant, killing men. And she had done it twice without so much as a hesitant step. She simply followed Levi's instructions. Did that make her a thug? Would her name be whispered in the streets out of fear? Would she have even _more_ bad men after her? Levi and the others would be in trouble.

"You've killed people?" Jack prompted, pulling his legs to his chest. It had gotten very quiet in the house; the water had stopped running in the toilet room.

Challis couldn't think of anything to say. The pricklies poked at her belly and chest, making it hard to swallow.

"What happened in the Dark Horse?"

"…Nothing." She tried to return to her book, suddenly wanting to disappear in the paragraphs. The words on the page weren't making sense though; the letters were unfamiliar and too squiggly, smudging together like a thumb dragged along fresh ink.

"Did _he_ kill men in there?"

Squinting, Challis said, "I don't feel like talking about it anymore, Jack."

"So, you saw him in action, then. Is he as fast as everyone says? Is he as terrifying? I heard he prefers knives to pistols or rifles, is that true?"

Challis frowned and tore away from the incomprehensible letters to berate Jack for talking so badly about Levi, but the words shriveled and died on her tongue. A shadow had appeared over Jack's dark mop of a head, and her hands trembled like yesterday.

Jack noticed her staring above his head and followed her gaze, and without a word shoved into the arm of the couch to press back against Challis, his face contorted in panic. He was smushing her wound against the rough fabric of the couch and Challis adjusted with gritted teeth to get it free.

Levi stood with a towel around his shoulders, ebony hair dripping into his bruised and blackened face. His once warm, silver gaze had turned into molten steel, and they bore into tiny Jack like he was a cornered mouse with nowhere left to run. The crusted blood had been scrubbed from his skin by rough fingers, and his nose was still swollen and red, but Challis could see the tenseness had loosened in his frame from the cleanse. Jack whimpered as Levi bared his teeth.

"Knives are silent, little brat. No one can hear you die."

A shriek erupted from the kitchen and Jack let out a startled shout and fell to the floor. Challis peered down at him curiously as he cowered between the couch and the table, his hands covering his head; a _tch_ caught her attention and Levi scrubbed the towel into his damp hair as he wandered over to pull the teapot off the heat. When he glanced back at her, his smile was small, but she caught it.

"Get up, Jack. You're the harmless puppy I'm protecting now."

Jack's head popped up enough that the only part of his face visible to her were his eyes. They were angry. "I don't need protecting. And I'm not a puppy!"

Challis poked his forehead playfully. "A little mouse, then."

Jack straightened to attack but was stopped by an obnoxious groan.

"What's with the _racket_, you stupid kids woke me _up_."

Jack and Challis froze as Isabel dragged herself into the room, scrubbing at a half-opened eye. Her pigtails were lopsided and sticking straight out from her head, and her shirt was heavily wrinkled. When she spotted them, annoyed waves radiated from her thin body.

"Haven't you ever heard of shutting your traps when someone is sleeping?"

Challis gulped as Isabel leaned over the back of the couch to fix her with a glare.

"And you. What are you doing with Farlan's books?"

Challis realized both books had somehow ended up in her lap, and she stared at them helplessly as Isabel snorted.

"Didn't think you knew how to read, being raised in the streets."

"I…Finn taught me," Challis answered quietly.

Isabel's lip curled. "And just what do you hope to learn from stealing other's books?"

"I wasn't stealing. I wanted to read about the omni-direc-tion-al maneuver gear," Challis enunciated carefully. "I didn't think Farlan would mind."

She could feel Jack behind her, tense but supportive. She was sure if Isabel tried anything, Jack would stop her. That was, if Levi didn't reach her first.

"Farlan's protective over his books. He wouldn't want your grubby little hands all over them. And besides, everything you read will fly straight over your head. You're _way_ too young to understand it. Might as well give up now."

"Um," and Challis pushed the page she was on in the Military Weaponry book into Isabel's face. "I'm actually stuck on this one part, about how the hand controllers connect to the main unit. It's talking about an electrical current and how it triggers the fans and gas and wires. Can you read it and explain it to me? I don't understand."

After a moment, Isabel shoved the book back into Challis's lap and grumbled something under her breath as she stalked to the kitchen. Levi calmly sipped under his hand at the sink as she scrounged for something to eat.

Challis, beginning to understand, said, "I can read it to you, if you'd like."

"I don't want to listen to that bloody nonsense!" Isabel snapped. "Ow!"

Levi studied the thin, fiery strand of hair he had just plucked from Isabel's head with scrutiny before dropping it into the sink. Isabel hissed something at him, and he responded quietly, his voice cool as it met Challis's ears. She couldn't hear their conversation, but she probably wasn't supposed to anyway.

Jack plopped beside her with an enormous grin and took the book from her lap.

"What?" she asked dejectedly.

"Did you do that on purpose?" he said, still grinning.

"Do what?"

Jack shook his head, and with that humorous grin plastered to face, helped her through the passage.

...

"And the way she spoke to me! She has no respect for me, even though I'm older than her and her stupid friend. Can't you do anything to control her?"

"She's her own person. She has a right to whatever she chooses to do, including asking you for help in her reading."

Isabel snorted, leaning against the counter with her back to the rest of the room. If she had hackles, they would be sticking straight up from her spine. Just like the hair on her head. "She was mocking me."

"She was being sincere." Levi gave her a hard look. "I don't care if you like her or not, but you will treat her with respect."

"Did you hear me? She doesn't treat _me_ with any respect, so why should _I_—"

"She recently lost someone she loved, was almost killed, and was badly injured, all in the span of a few hours." Levi reached for the teapot. "She's seven. Cut her some slack."

Isabel folded her arms with a disgruntled huff, spinning to stare at the children. Jack was pointing at a line of words on the page, quietly explaining them to Challis, who listened intently. Levi gulped scalding tea like a fish to dampen the annoyance crackling to life in his gut.

"Did she see you kill them?" Isabel murmured.

"She saw me kill Mad Dog and the others two years ago. And she wasn't afraid."

She breathed a stale laugh. Then, "Did she kill anyone?"

Levi's chest was as hollow as a pipe and had been since they had left the Dark Horse. "Two."

Isabel sighed. "This is no life for a child."

Levi knew it. He did, because this was the life he had grown up with. He had killed his first man when he was five and that was it. He made a living as a thug now, stealing items from others and killing men just like him. It was all he had ever known.

And suddenly he despised himself for bringing her into this. She had been so pure, untainted by the city, willing to risk herself to help another even if there was no hope for them. She had been living the best life she could with what she had been given, and his selfishness had ruined it. She didn't realize it, and Levi hadn't realized it either until that moment.

Levi was the man she should have avoided.

Banging erupted from the door, causing Levi's hand to jump enough that the tea in his cup sloshed against the sides. Challis was on her feet already, Jack paused on the couch and focused on the door. Isabel cast Levi a side-way glance.

_You brought them here, you fix this._

"Children, in here," and Levi blinked as Farlan materialized to whisper at Challis and Jack. With a nervous glance to Levi, Challis followed Jack and Farlan into the bedroom.

"They're here to kill us," Isabel hissed as Levi set his cup down and moved to the door. "And it's _your_ fault!"

Levi felt green with nausea. What was he going to do? He wished he had Challis in sight, just to know where she was, but he knew that was a mistake. If they saw her, they would do everything in their power to get her, including killing the three of them.

Four, he corrected himself, and swung open the door with a blank frown.

"Hello, Levi," and Levi fought with the muscles in his face to keep it straight and indifferent, because never in his life had he seen Sid removed from his chair, outside his house, or pounding down the door to his home. He filled up the doorway with his stinking fat and rotting teeth, and Levi clung to the doorknob with everything he had. He didn't think it could get much worse than this, until Sid held up a thin, blood-encrusted knife between them, an eyeball crudely stabbed onto its tip. Levi recognized that knife in a heartbeat. Sid beamed blackened teeth. "I've come to chat."

...

_**Holy cow, what a semester! Firstly, I want to thank everyone for being so patient. This semester, and life in general, got so busy in the past couple months I had no free time to myself. And it didn't help I've been struggling with this chapter since I started it...but it's finally finished! I hope to be publishing a little more often now. Also, I can't believe how many people are fans of this fic! I never could have dreamed to have you so interested in something I thought was a fun thing to write on the side. Thank you! As always, reviews, comments, and critiques are welcome! (Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great holiday!)**_


End file.
